Anti-Slavery  Opinions 


BEFORE  THE  YEAR   1800 


READ   BEFORE  THE  CINCINNATI   LITERARY   CLUB,  NOVEMBER   16,  1872 


Bv  WILLIAM   FREDERICK  POOLE 

\i 

Librarian  of  the  Public  Library  of  Cincinnati 


TO  WHICH  IS  APPENDED  A  FAC  SIMILE  REPRINT  OF  DR.  GEORGE  BUCHANAN'S  ORATION 

ON  THE  MORAL  AND  POLITICAL  EVIL  OF  SLAVERY,  DELIVERED  AT  A  PUBLIC 

MEETING    OF   THE    MARYLAND  SOCIETY    FOR    PROMOTING  THE 

ABOLITION    OF    SLAVERY,  BALTIMORE,  JULY  4,   1791 


CINCINNATI 

ROBERT    CLARKE    &    CO 
1873 


ANTI-SLAVERY  OPINIONS 

Before  1800. 


I  purpose  this  evening  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
Club  to  the  state  of  anti-slavery  opinions  in  this  country 
just  prior  to  the  year  1800.  In  this  examination  I  shall 
make  use  of  a  very  rare  pamphlet  in  the  library  of  Gen 
eral  Washington,  which  seems  to  have  escaped  the  notice 
of  writers  on  this  subject ;  and  shall  preface  my  remarks 
on  the  main  topic  of  discussion  with  a  brief  description 
of  the  Washington  collection. 

In  the  library  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  the  visitor 
sees,  as  he  enters,  a  somewhat  elaborately-constructed 
book-case,  with  glass  front,  filled  with  old  books.  This 
is  the  library  of  George  Washington,  which  came  into 
possession  of  the  Athenaeum  in  1849.  It  was  purchased 
that  year  from  the  heirs  of  Judge  Bushrod  Washington 
— the  favorite  nephew  to  whom  the  General  left  all  his 
books  and  manuscripts — by  Mr.  Henry  Stevens,  of 
London,  with  the  intention  of  placing  it  in  the  British 
Museum.  Before  the  books  were  shipped,  they  were 
bought  by  Mr.  George  Livermore  and  a  few  other  lit 
erary  and  public-spirited  gentlemen  of  Boston,  and  pre 
sented  to  the  Athenaeum.  Mr.  Livermore,  as  discre- 


268738 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


tionary  executor  of  the  estate  of  Thomas  Dowse,  the 
''literary  leather-dresser"  of  Cambridge,  added  to  the 
gift  one  thousand  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of  printing  a 
description  and  catalogue  of  the  collection,  which  has 
not  yet  been  done. 

The  collection  numbers  about  twelve  hundred 
titles,  of  which  four  hundred  and  fifty  are  bound 
volumes,  and  seven  hundred  and  fifty  are  pamphlets  and 
unbound  serials.  Some  books  of  the  original  library  of 
General  Washington  still  remain  at  Mt.  Vernon,  and 
are,  or  were  a  few  years  since,  shown  to  visitors,  with 
other  curiosities. 

Separated  from  association  with  their  former  illustri 
ous  owner,  the  bound  volumes,  which  are  mostly  Eng 
lish  books,  present  but  few  attractions.  Among  them  are 
a  few  treatises  on  the  art  of  war  and  military  tactics, 
which  evidently  were  never  much  read.  These  were  im 
ported  after  his  unfortunate  expedition  with  Braddock's 
army,  and  before  the  revolutionary  war.  There  are 
books  on  horse  and  cattle  diseases  ;  on  domestic  medi 
cine ;  on  farming,  and  on  religious  topics — -such  works 
as  we  might  expect  to  find  on  the  shelves  of  an  intelli 
gent  Virginia  planter.  It  is  evident  that  their  owner 
was  no  student  or  specialist.  Many  of  the  books  were 
sent  to  him  as  presents,  with  complimentary  inscrip 
tions  by  the  donors.  The  bindings  are  all  in  their  origi 
nal  condition,  and  generally  of  the  most  common  de 
scription.  The  few  exceptions  were  presentation  copies. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


Col.  David  Humphreys,  Washington's  aid-de-camp 
during  the  revolutionary  war,  presents  his  "  Miscel 
laneous  Works,"  printed  in  1790,  bound,  regardless  of 
expense,  by  some  Philadelphia  binder,  in  full  red  mo 
rocco,  gilt  and  goffered  edges,  and  with  covers  and  fly 
leaves  lined  with  figured  satin.  As  the  book  was  for  a 
very  distinguished  man,  the  patriotic  binder  has  stamped 
on  the  covers  and  back  every  device  he  had  in  his  shop. 
Nearly  all  the  volumes  have  the  bold  autograph  of 
"G?  Washington,"  upon  their  title  pages,  and  the 
well-known  book-plate,  with  his  name,  armorial  bearings, 
and  motto,  Exitus  acta  probat*  on  the  inside  of  the 
covers. 

There  are  persons  at  the  present  day  who  have 
very  positive  opinions  on  the  subject  of  prose  fiction, 
believing  that  great  characters  like  Jonathan  Edwards 
and  George  Washington  never  read  such  naughty  books 
when  they  were  young.  Let  us  see.  Here  is  the  "Ad 
ventures  of  Peregrine  Pickle  ;  in  which  are  included  the 
Memoirs  of  a  Lady  of  Quality,"  by  Tobias  Smollett, 
in  three  volumes.  On  the  title  page  of  the  first  volume 
is  the  autograph  of  George  Washington,  written  in  the 

*The  questionable  morality  of  Gen.  Washington's  motto  might 
suggest  that  it  was  not  originally  adopted  by  him.  The  sentiment, 
that  '  *  the  end  justifies  the  means,"  has  been  charged,  as  a  reproach, 
upon  the  Jesuits.  It  was  the  motto  of  the  Northamptonshire  family 
from  which  Gen.  Washington  descended,  and  was  used  by  him,  prob 
ably  without  a  thought  of  its  Jesuitical  association,  oj  its  meaning. 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


cramped  hand  of  a  boy  of  fourteen.     The  work  shows 
more  evidence  of  having  been  attentively  read,  event  to 
the  end  of  the  third  volume,  than   any  in   the  library. 
Here  is  the  cc  Life  and  Opinions  of  John  Buncle,"  a 
book  which   it    is    better  that  boarding-school    misses 
should  not  read.     Yet  Washington  read  it,  and  enjoyed 
the  fun  ;   for  it  is  one  of  the  few  books  he  speaks  of  in 
his  correspondence  as  having  read  and  enjoyed.     The 
present  generation  of  readers  are  not  familiar  with  John 
Buncle.     Of  the  book  and   its  author,   Hazlitt  says  : 
"John   Buncle  is  the  English   Rabelais,     The  soul  of 
Francis    Rabelais    passed     into    Thomas    Amory,    the 
author  of  John  Buncle.     Both  were  physicians,  and  en 
emies  of  much  gravity.     Their  great  business  was  to 
enjoy  life.      Rabelais  indulges  his  spirit  of  sensuality  in 
wine,  in  dried   neats'   tongues,  in  Bologna  sausages,  in 
Botorgas.     John  Buncle  shows   the  same  symptoms  of 
inordinate    satisfaction    in    bread    and     butter.     While 
Rabelais  roared  with  Friar  John  and  the  monks,  John 
Buncle  gossiped  with  the  ladies." 

It  is  the  good  fortune  of  the  youth  of  our  age  that 
they  are  served  with  fun  in  more  refined  and  discreet 
methods  ;  yet  there  is  a  melancholy  satisfaction  in  find 
ing  in  the  life  of  a  great  historical  character  like  Wash 
ington,  who  was  the  embodiment  of  dignity  and  pro 
priety,  that  he  could,  at  some  period  of  his  existence, 
unbend  and  enjoy  a  book  like  John  Buncle.  He  be- 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


comes,  thereby,  more  human  ;  and  the  distance  between 
him  and  ordinary  mortals  seems  to  diminish. 

Thomas  Comber's  £C  Discourses  on  the  Common 
Prayer,"  has  three  autographs  of  his  father,  Augustine 
Washington,  one  of  his  mother,  Mary  Washington,  and 
one  of  his  own,  written  when  nine  years  of  age.  The 
fly-leaves  he  had  used  as  a  practice  book  for  writing  his 
father's  and  mother's  names  and  his  own,  and  for  con 
structing  monograms  of  the  family  names.* 

The  pamphlets  in  the  collection  have  intrinsically 
more  value  than  the  larger  works.  They  were  nearly 
all  contemporaneous,  and  were  sent  to  Washington  by 

^  On  one  of  the  fly-leaves,  written  in  a  boy's  hand,  is  "  Mary  Wash 
ington  and  George  Washington."  Beneath  is  this  memorandum : 
"  The  above  is  in  General  Washington's  handwriting  when  nine  years 
of  age.  [Signed,]  G.  W.  Parke  Custis,"  who  was  the  grandson  of  Mrs. 
Washington,  and  the  last  surviver  of  the  family.  He  was  born  in 
1781,  and  died  at  the  Arlington  House  in  1857. 

In  the  appraisement  of  General  Washington's  estate,  after  his  death? 
this  book  was  valued  at  twenty-five  cents,  and  the  Miscellaneous  Works 
of  Col.  Humphreys,  at  three  dollars.  The  boy's  scribbling,  in  the  one 
case,  and  the  gorgeous  binding  in  the  other,  probably  determined  these 
values.  In  the  appendix  of  Mr.  Everett's  Life  of  Washington,  is 
printed  the  appraisers'  inventory  of  Washington's  library.  Tracts  on 
Slavery  was  valued  at  Si.oo;  Life  of  John  Buncle,  2  vols.,  $3.00; 
Peregrine  Pickle,  3  vols.,  $1.50;  Humphrey  Clinker,  2$c.  ;  Jeffer 
son's  Notes  on  Virginia,  $1.50;  Tom  Jones,  or  the  History  of  a 
Foundling,  3  vols.,  (third  vol.  wanting)  81.50;  Gulliver's  Travels,  2 
vols.,  1.50;  Pike's  Arithmetic,  $2.00, 


Anti-  Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


their  authors,  with  inscriptions  upon  the  title  pages  in 
their  authors'  handwriting,  of  the  most  profound  respect 
and  esteem.  Some  of  these  pamphlets  are  now  exceed 
ingly  rare.  In  a  bound  volume  lettered  "Tracts  on 
Slavery,"  and  containing  several  papers,  all  of  radical 
anti-slavery  tendencies, *  is  the  one  to  which  I  wish 
especially  to  call  your  attention.  It  is  so  rare  that, 
having  shown  this  copy  for  fifteen  years  to  persons 
especially  interested  in  this  subject,  and  having  made 
the  most  diligent  inquiry,  I  have  never  heard  of  another, 
till  within  a  few  days  since,  when  I  learn  from  my  friend, 
Mr.  George  H.  Moore,  the  librarian  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  that  there  is  a  copy  in  that  society's 

*The  first  of  these  tracts  is  "A  Serious  Address  to  the  Rulers  of 
America,  on  the  Inconsistency  of  their  Conduct  respecting  Slavery  ; 
forming  a  contrast  between  the  encroachments  of  England  on  American 
liberty,  and  American  injustice  in  tolerating  slavery.  By  a  Farmer, 
Jjondon,"  1783.  24  pages.  8vo.  The  author  compared,  in  opposite 
columns,  the  speeches  and  resolutions  of  the  members  of  Congress  in 
behalf  of  their  own  liberty,  with  their  conduct  in  continuing  the  slavery 
of  others.  I  have  never  seen  the  name  of  the  author  of  this  tract.  It 
was  extensively  circulated  at  the  time,  and  had  much  influence  in  form 
ing  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  which  later  existed.  Another  is  "An 
Essay  on  the  Impolicy  of  the  African  Slave  Trade.  In  two  Parts. 
By  the  Rev.  T.  Clarkson,  M.  A.  To  which  is  added  an  Oration  upon 
the  Necessity  of  Establishing  at  Paris  a  Society  for  Promoting  the  Ab 
olition  of  the  Trade  and  Slavery  of  the  Negroes.  By  J.  P.  Brissot  de 
Warville.  Philadelphia:  Printed  by  Francis  Bailey,  for  'the  Pennsyl 
vania  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  and  the  Relief  of 
Free  Negroes  unlawfully  held  in  Bondage.'  1789."  155  pp.  8vo. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


library.  Its  title  is  :  "An  Oration  upon  the  Moral  and 
Political  Evil  of  Slavery.  Delivered  at  a  Public  Meet 
ing  of  the  Maryland  Society  for  Promoting  the  Aboli 
tion  of  Slavery  and  the  Relief  of  Free  Negroes  and 
others  unlawfully  held  in  Bondage,  Baltimore,  July  4, 
1791.  By  George  Buchanan,  M.  D.,  Member  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society.  Baltimore  :  Printed 
by  Philip  Edwards,  M,DCC,XCIII."  Twenty  pages, 
octavo. 

A  Fourth-of-July  oration  in  Baltimore,  on  the 
moral  and  political  evils  of  slavery,  only  four  years  after 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  is  an  incident  worthy 
of  historical  recognition,  and  a  place  in  anti-slavery  lit 
erature.  The  following  extracts  will  give  an  idea  of  its 
style  and  range  of  thought : 

"  God  hath  created  mankind  after  His  own  image, 
and  granted  them  liberty  and  independence;  and  if 
varieties  may  be  found  in  .their  structure  and  color,  these 
are  only  to  be  attributed  to  the  nature  of  their  diet  and 
habits,  as  also  to  the  soil  and  the  climate  they  may  in 
habit,  and  serve  as  flimsy  pretexts  for  enslaving  them. 

"  What,  will  you  not  consider  that  the  Africans 
are  men  ?  That  they  have  human  souls  to  be  saved  ? 
That  they  are  born  free  and  independent  ?  A  violation 
of  these  prerogatives  is  an  infringement  upon  the  laws  of 
God. 

"  Possessed   of  Christian  sentiments,    they   fail    not 
to     exercise    them    when    opportunity    offers.     Things 


io  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

pleasing  rejoice  them,  and  melancholy  circumstances 
pall  their  appetites  for  amusements.  They  brook  no 
insults,  and  are  equally  prone  to  forgiveness,  as  to  re 
sentments.  They  have  gratitude  also,  and  will  even 
expose  their  lives  to  wipe  off  the  obligation  of  past 
favors  ;  nor  do  they  want  any  of  the  refinements  of 
taste,  so  much  the  boast  of  those  who  call  themselves 
Christians. 

c  The  talent  for  music,  both  vocal  and  instru 
mental,  appears  natural  to  them  ;  neither  is  their  genius 
for  literature  to  be  despised.  Many  instances  are  re 
corded  of  men  of  eminence  among  them.  Witness 
Ignatius  Sancho,  whose  letters  are  admired  by  all  men 
of  taste.  Phillis  Wheatley,  who  distinguished  herself 
as  a  poetess  ;  the  Physician  of  New  Orleans  ;  the  Vir 
ginia  Calculator;  Banneker,  the  Maryland  Astronomer, 
and  many  others,  whom  it  would  be  needless  to  men 
tion.  These  are  sufficient  to  show,  that  the  Africans 
whom  you  despise,  whom  you  inhumanly  treat  as 
brutes,  and  whom  you  unlawfully  subject  to  slavery, 
are  equally  capable  of  improvement  with  yourselves. 

"This  you  may  think  a  bold  assertion;  but  it  is 
not  made  without  reflection,  nor  independent  of  the 
testimony  of  many  who  have  taken  pains  in  their  edu 
cation.  Because  you  see  few,  in  comparison  to  their 
number,  who  make  any  exertion  of  ability  at  all,  you 
are  ready  to  enjoy  the  common  opinion  that  they  are 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1 800.  1 1 

an  inferior  set  of  beings,  and  destined  to   the  cruelties 
and  hardships  you  impose  upon  them. 

cc  But  be  cautious  how  long  you  hold  such  sentiments  ; 
the  time  may  come  when  you  will  be  obliged  to  abandon 
them.  Consider  the  pitiable  situation  of  these  most 
distressed  beings,  deprived  of  their  liberty  and  reduced 
to  slavery.  Consider  also  that  they  toil  not  for  them 
selves  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  its  going  down,  and 
you  will  readily  conceive  the  cause  of  their  inaction. 
What  time  or  what  incitement  has  a  slave  to  become 
wise?  There  is  no  great  art  in  hilling  corn,  or  in  run 
ning  a  furrow;  and  to  do  this  they  know  they  are 
doomed,  whether  they  seek  into  the  mysteries  of  science 
or  remain  ignorant  as  they  are. 

ct  To  deprive  a  man  of  his  liberty  has  a  tendency  to 
rob  his  soul  of  every  spring  to  virtuous  actions  ;  and 
were  slaves  to  become  fiends,  the  wonder  could  not  be 
great.  'Nothing  more  assimulates  a  man  to  a  beast/ 
says  the  learned  Montesquieu,  'than  being  among  free 
men,  himself  a  slave;  for  slavery  clogs  the  mind,  per 
verts  the  moral  faculty,  and  reduces  the  conduct  of  man 
to  the  standard  of  brutes.'  What  right  have  you  to 
expect  greater  things  of  these  poor  mortals  ?  You 
would  not  blame  a  brute  for  committing  ravages  upon 
his  prey  ;  nor  ought  you  to  censure  a  slave  for  making 
attempts  to  regain  his  liberty,  even  at  the  risk  of  life 
itself. 

"  Such  are  the  effects  of  subjecting  man  to  slavery, 


12  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

that  it  destroys  every  human  principle,  vitiates  the 
mind,  instills  ideas  of  unlawful  cruelties,  and  subverts 
the  springs  of  government. 

cc  What  a  distressing  scene  is  here  before  us? 
America,  I  start  at  your  situation  !  These  direful 
effects  of  slavery  demand  your  most  serious  attention. 
What !  shall  a  people  who  flew  to  arms  with  the  valor 
of  Roman  citizens  when  encroachments  were  made 
upon  their  liberties  by  the  invasion  of  foreign  powers, 
now  basely  descend  to  cherish  the  seed  and  propagate 
the  growth  of  the  evil  which  they  boldly  sought  to  erad 
icate?  To  the  eternal  infamy  of  our  country  this  will 
be  handed  down  to  posterity  ^  written  in  the  blood  of 
African  innocence.  If  your  forefathers  have  been  de 
generate  enough  to  introduce  slavery  into  your  country 
to  contaminate  the  minds  of  her  citizens,  you  ought  to 
have  the  virtue  of  extirpating  it. 

"  In  the  first  struggles  for  American  freedom,  in  the 
enthusiastic  ardor  of  attaining  liberty  and  independence, 
one  of  the  most  noble  sentiments  that  ever  adorned  the 
human  breast  was  loudly  proclaimed  in  all  her  councils. 
Deeply  penetrated  with  the  sense  of  equality,  they  held 
it  as  a  fixed  principle,  '  that  all  men  are  by  nature,  and 
of  right  ought  to  be,  free;  that  they  were  created  equal, 
and  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable 
rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  Nevertheless,  when  the  blessings  of  peace 
were  showered  upon  them  ;  when  they  had  obtained  these 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  13 

rights  which  they  had  so  boldly  contended  for,  then  they 
became  apostates  to  their  principles,  and  riveted  the 
fetters  of  slavery  upon  the  unfortunate  Africans. 

"  Deceitful  men  !      Who  could  have  suggested  that 
American  patriotism  would  at  this  day  countenance  a 
conduct  so  inconsistent;   that  while  America  boasts   of 
being  a  land  of  freedom,   and  an  asylum  for  the  op 
pressed  of  Europe,  she  should  at  the  same  time  foster 
an  abominable  nursery  of  slaves  to  check  the  shoots  of 
her  growing  liberty  ?      Deaf  to  the  clamors  of  criticism, 
she  feels  no  remorse,  and  blindly  pursues   the  object  of 
her  destruction  ;  she  encourages  the  propagation  of  vice, 
and    suffers    her  youth    to  be  reared  in   the  habits  of 
cruelty.      Not  even  the  sobs  and  groans  of  injured  in 
nocence  which  reek  from  every  state  can  excite  her  pity, 
nor  human  misery  bend  her  heart  to  sympathy.      Cruel 
and  oppressive  she  wantonly  abuses  the  rights  of  man, 
and  willingly  sacrifices    her    liberty  upon    the  altar  of 
slavery. 

"What  an  opportunity  is  here  given  for  triumph 
among  her  enemies  !  Will  they  not  exclaim  that,  upon 
this  very  day,  while  the  Americans  celebrate  the  anniver 
sary  of  freedom  and  independence,  abject  slavery  exists 
in  all  her  states  but  one?  [Note — Massachusetts.]  How 
degenerately  base  to  merit  the  rebuke  !  Fellow  country 
men,  let  the  heart  of  humanity  awake  and  direct  your 
councils.  Combine  to  drive  the  fiend  monster  from 
your  territories. 


14  Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

"Your  laborers  are  slaves,  and  they  have  no  incen 
tive  to  be  industrious;  they  are  clothed  and  victualed, 
whether  lazy  or  hard-working;  and,  from  the  calcula 
tions  that  have  been  made,  one  freeman  is  worth  two 
slaves  in  the  field,  which  make  it  in  many  instances 
cheaper  to  have  hirelings;  for  they  are  incited  to  indus 
try  by  hopes  of  reputation  and  future  employment, 
and  are  careful  of  their  apparel  and  their  implements  of 
husbandry,  where  they  must  provide  them  for  them 
selves  ;  whereas  the  others  have  little  or  no  temptation 
to  attend  to  any  of  these  circumstances. 

"  Fellow  countrymen,  let  the  hand  of  persecution  be 
no  longer  raised  against  you  ;  act  virtuously;  c  do  unto 
all  men  as  you  would  that  they  should  do  unto  you/ 
and  exterminate  the  pest  of  slavery  from  the  land." 

The  orator  then  goes  on  to  hold  up  the  horrors  of 
an  insurrection.  He  reminds  his  hearers  that  in  many 
parts  of  the  South  the  number  of  slaves  exceeds  that  of 
the  whites.  He  reminds  them  that  these  slaves  are 
naturally  born  free  and  have  a  right  to  freedom  ;  that 
they  will  not  forever  sweat  under  the  yoke  of  slavery. 
C£  Heaven,"  he  says,  "will  not  overlook  such  enormi 
ties.  She  is  bound  to  punish  impenitent  sinners,  and 
her  wrath  is  to  be  dreaded  by  all.  What,  then,  if  the 
fire  of  liberty  shall  be  kindled  among  them  ?  What  if 
some  enthusiast  in  their  cause  shall  beat  to  arms  and 
call  them  to  the  standard  of  freedom  ?  Led  on  by  the 
hopes  of  freedom  and  animated  by  the  inspiring  voice 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  15 

of  their  leaders,  they  would  soon  find  that  {  a  day,  an 
hour  of  virtuous  liberty  was  worth  a  whole  eternity  of 
bondage/ 

"  Hark  !  methinks  I  hear  the  work  begun;  the  blacks 
have  sought  for  allies  and  have  found  them  in  the  wilder 
ness,  and  have  called  the  rusty  savages  to  their  assistance, 
and  are  preparing  to  take  revenge  upon  their  haughty 
masters." 

To  this  threatening  passage  the  orator  has  appended  a 
note,  in  which  he  says  :  cc  This  was  thrown  out  as  a  con 
jecture  of  what  possibly  might  happen  ;  and  the  insurrec 
tions  of  San  Domingo  tendto  prove  this  danger  to  be 
more  considerable  than  has  generally  been  supposed,  and 
sufficient  to  alarm  the  inhabitants  of  these  states." 

The  contingency,  which  he  thought  might  possibly 
happen,  did  actually  occur  thirty-nine  years  later,  when 
an  insurrection  broke  out,  August,  1830,  in  Southamp 
ton  county,  Virginia,  under  the  lead  of  Nat  Turner,  a 
fanatical  negro  preacher,  in  which  sixty-one  white  men, 
women,  and  children  were  murdered  before  it  was  sup 
pressed. 

He  recommends  immediate  emancipation  ;  and  if  this 
can  not  be  done,  "  then,"  he  says,  "let  the  children  be 
liberated  at  a  certain  age,  and  in  less  than  half  a  century 
the  plague  will  be  totally  rooted  out  from  among  you  ; 
thousands  of  good  citizens  will  be  added  to  your  num 
ber,  and  gratitude  will  induce  them  to  become  your 
friends." 


1 6  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

This  remarkable  oration  suggests  some  interesting 
questions  of  historical  inquiry.  How  far  do  these  opin 
ions  represent  the  current  sentiments  of  that  time  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  ?  It  will  be  seen  that  they  are  of  the 
most  radical  type.  I  am  not  aware  that  Wendell  Phillips 
or-Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison  ever  claimed  that  the  negro  race 
was  equal  in  its  capacity  for  improvement  to  the  white 
race.  While  their  rhetoric  was  more  chaste,  they  cer 
tainly  never  denounced  the  system  in  more  vigorous  and 
condemnatory  terms. 

Forty-four  years  later  (October  21,  1835),  Mr.  Garri 
son  was  waited  upon,  in  open  day,  by  a  mob  of  most  re 
spectable  citizens,  while  attending  a  meeting  of  the 
Boston  Female  Anti-Slavery  Society,  dragged  through 
the  streets  of  Boston  with  a  rope  around  his  body,  and 
locked  up  in  jail  by  the  Mayor  of  that  sedate  city  to  pro 
tect  him  from  his  assailants.  On  the  4th  of  July,  1834, 
a  meeting  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  was 
broken  up  in  New  York,  and  the  house  of  Lewis  Tappan 
was  sacked  by  mob  violence.  A  month  later,  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  a  mob  against  anti-slavery  and  colored 
men  raged  for  three  days  and  nights.  On  the  28th  of 
July,  1836,  a  committee  of  thirteen  citizens  of  Cincin 
nati,  appointed  by  a  public  meeting,  of  whom  Jacob 
Burnet,  late  United  States  Senator  and  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  was  chairman,  waited  upon  Mr. 
James  G.  Birney  and  other  members  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  Ohio  Anti-Slavery  Society,  under 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  17 

whose  direction  the  cc  Philanthropist,"  an  anti-slavery 
newspaper,  was  printed  here,  and  informed  them  that  un 
less  they  desisted  from  its  publication  the  meeting  would 
not  be  responsible  for  the  consequences.  Judge  Burnet 
stated  that  the  mob  would  consist  of  five  thousand  per 
sons,  and  that  two-thirds  of  the  property  holders  of  the 
city  would  join  it.  The  committee  gave  Mr.  Birney  and 
his  friends  till  the  next  day  to  consider  the  question,  when 
they  decided  to  make  no  terms  with  the  rioters,  and 
to  abide  the  consequences.  That  night  the  office 
was  sacked,  and  the  press  of  the  cc  Philanthropist"  was 
thrown  into  the  Ohio  river. 

But  here  was  an  oration  delivered  in  the  city  of  Bal 
timore  in  the  year  1791,  advancing  the  most  extreme 
opinions,  and  it  created  not  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of 
Southern  society. 

That  the  opinions  of  the  oration  did  not  offend  those 
to  whom  it  was  addressed,  the  official  action  of  the 
Society,  which  is  printed  on  the  third  page,  attests.  It 
is  as  follows  : 

"At  a  special  meeting  of  the  c  Maryland  Society  for 
Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  and  the  Relief  of 
Free  Negroes  and  others  Unlawfully  held  in  Bondage/ 
held  at  Baltimore,  July  4,  1791,  unanimously 

"Resolved,  That  the  president  present  the  thanks  of 
the  Society  to  Dr.  George  Buchanan,  for  the  excellent 
oration  by  him  delivered  this  day,  and,,  at  the  same 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


time,  request  a  copy  thereof  in  the  name  and  for  the 
use  of  the  Society. 

"  Signed — Samuel  Sterett,  President ;  Alex.  McKim, 
Vice-President ;  Joseph  Townsend,  Secretary." 

The  oration  has  this  dedication  : 

"  To  the  Honorable  Thomas  Jefferson,  Esq.,  Secre 
tary  of  State,  whose  partiotism  since  the  American 
Revolution  has  been  uniformly  marked  by  a  sincere, 
steady,  and  active  attachment  to  the  interest  of  his 
country,  and  whose  literary  abilities  have  distinguished 
him  amongst  the  first  of  statesmen  and  philosophers — 
this  oration  is  respectfully  inscribed,  as  an  humble  testi 
mony  of  the  highest  regard  and  esteem,  by  the  Au 
thor." 

The  author  was  evidently  a  straight  Democrat. 

Seven  years  ago  I  copied  this  oration  with  the  inten 
tion  of  reprinting  it,  with  a  brief  historical  introduction, 
supposing  I  could  readily  find  the  few  facts  I  needed. 
But  in  this  I  was  disappointed.  Who  was  Dr.  George 
Buchanan  ?  That  he  was  a  member  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  at  Philadelphia  was  apparent  on 
the  title  page;  but  that  was  all  I  could  learn  of  him 
from  books  or  inquiry.  I  then  wrote  to  a  historical 
friend  in  Baltimore  to  make  inquiry  for  me  there,  and 
I  received  letters  from  the  author's  son,  McKean 
Buchanan,  senior  paymaster  in  the  United  States  navy, 
since  deceased,  and  from  two  grandsons,  Mr.  George  B. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


Coale  and   Dr.   Wm.   Edw.   Coale,   giving   full   partic 
ulars,  which  I  will  condense  : 

Dr.  George  Buchanan  was  born  on  an  estate,  five 
miles  from  Baltimore,  September  19,  1763,  and  for 
many  years  was  a  practicing  physician  in  Baltimore. 
He  was  a  son  of  Andrew  Buchanan,  who  was  also  born 
in  Maryland,  and  was  General  in  the  Continental  troops 
of  Maryland  during  the  Revolution,  and  was  one  of 
the  Commissioners  who  located  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
Dr.  George  Buchanan  studied  medicine  and  took  a 
degree  at  Philadelphia.  He  then  went  to  Europe  and 
studied  medicine  at  Edinburgh,  and  later  at  Paris,  taking 
degrees  at  both  places.  Returning  to  Baltimore,  he 
married  Letitia,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  Mc- 
Kean,  an  eminent  jurist,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  one  of  the  Signers  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  and  was  Governor  of  Pennsyl 
vania  from  1799  to  1806.  In  1806,  Dr.  Buchanan  re 
moved  to  Philadelphia,  and  died  the  next  year  of  yellow 
fever,  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties  as  Lazaretto 
physician.  His  eldest  son  was  Paymaster  McKean 
Buchanan,  before  mentioned.  His  youngest  son  was 
Franklin  Buchanan,  captain  in  the  United  States  navy 
till  he  resigned,  April  19,  1861,  and  went  into  the  so- 
called  Confederate  navy.  He  was,  with  the  rank  of 
Admiral,  in  command  of  the  iron-clad  £C  Merrimac,"  and 
was  wounded  in  the  conflict  of  that  vessel  with  the 
monitor  cc  Ericsson,"  at  Hampton  Roads,  March  9, 


2O  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

1862,  and  was  later  captured  by  Admiral   Farragut  in 
Mobile  harbor. 

"  My  brother,"  writes  one  of  the  grandsons,  "  told 
me  that  the  last  time  he  saw  Henry  Clay,  Mr.  Clay 
took  his  hand  in  both  of  his,  and  said,  with  great  em 
phasis  :  c  It  is  to  your  grandfather  that  I  owe  my  pres 
ent  position  with  regard  to  slavery.  It  was  he  who  first 
pointed  out  to  me  the  curse  it  entailed  on  the  white 
man,  and  the  manifold  evils  it  brings  with  it." 

In  determining  how  far  the  sentiments  contained  in 
this  oration  were  the  current  opinions  of  the  time,  it 
became  necessary  for  me  to  know  something  definite  of 
the  Cf  Maryland  Society  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery," 
of  the  Virginia,  the  Pennsylvania,  and  other  societies, 
which  existed  at  that  time.  This  information  I  could 
not  obtain  from  anti-slavery  books,  or  from  the  most 
prominent  abolitionists  whom  I  consulted.  The  mat 
ter  seemed  to  have  been  forgotten,  and  it  was  the  com 
mon  idea  that  there  was  nothing  worth  remembering  of 
the  anti-slavery  movement  before  1830,  when  Mr.  Gar 
rison  and  his  radical  friends  came  upon  the  stage  in 
Boston.  For  the  want  of  the  facts  I  needed,  I  laid 
aside  the  idea  of  reproducing  the  tract.  The  subject 
was  brought  again  to  mind  by  hearing  the  excellent 
paper,  by  Mr.  S.  E.  Wright,  our  secretary,  on  the  anti- 
slavery  labors  of  Benjamin  Lundy,  which  he  read  to  this 
Club,  a  few  months  ago.  The  labors  of  Mr.  Lundy  be 
gan  in  1816,  and  ended  with  his  death  in  1839.  Quite 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  21 


recently  I  have  obtained  much  of  the  information  I 
needed. 

Among  the  unknown  facts  to  which  I  could  get  no 
clue  at  the  time  I  have  mentioned,  were  the  names  of 
the  "Virginia  Calculator"  and  the  cc  Physician  of  New 
Orleans,"  whom  Dr.  Buchanan  mentions  with  Phillis 
Wheatley,  Ignatius  Sancho,  and  Banneker,  the  Mary 
land  astronomer,  as  being  negroes  who  were  distin 
guished  for  their  literary  and  mathematical  acquirements. 
Mr.  Phillips  had  never  heard  of  them,  and  he  took  the 
trouble  to  make  inquiries  among  his  anti-slavery  friends, 
but  without  success. 

A  year  or  more  after  I  had  abandoned  my  little  pro 
ject,  in  looking  over  the  files  of  the  Columbian  Cen- 
tinal,  printed  in  Boston,  for  1790,  I  found  under  the 
date  of  December  29th,  in  the  column  of  deaths,  the 
following : 

ct  DIED — Negro  Tom,  the  famous  African  calculator, 
aged  80  years.  He  was  the  property  of  Mrs.  Eliza 
beth  Cox,  of  Alexandria.  Tom  was  a  very  black  man. 
He  was  brought  to  this  country  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
and  was  sold  as  a  slave  with  many  of  his  unfortunate 
countrymen.  This  man  was  a  prodigy.  Though  he 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  he  had  perfectly  acquired 
the  use  of  enumeration.  He  could  give  the  number 
of  months,  days,  weeks,  hours,  minutes,  and  seconds, 
for  any  period  of  time  that  a  person  chose  to  mention, 
allowing  in  his  calculations  for  all  the  leap  years  that 


22  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

happened  in  the  time.  He  would  give  the  number  of 
poles,  yards,  feet,  inches,  and  barley-corns  in  a  given 
distance — say,  the  diameter  of  the  earth's  orbit — and  in 
every  calculation  he  would  produce  the  true  answer  in 
less  time  than  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  men  would 
take  with  their  pens.  And  what  was,  perhaps,  more 
extraordinary,  though  interrupted  in  the  progress  of  his 
calculations,  and  engaged  in  discourse  upon  any  other 
subject,  his  operations  were  not  thereby  in  the  least  de 
ranged;  he  would  go  on  where  he  left  off,  and  could 
give  any  and  all  of  the  stages  through  which  the  calcu 
lation  had  passed. 

"  Thus  died  Negro  Tom,  this  untaught  arithme 
tician,  this  untutored  scholar.  Had  his  opportunities  of 
improvement  been  equal  to  those  of  thousands  of  his 
fellow-men,  neither  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  the 
Academy  of  Science  at  Paris,  nor  even  a  Newton  him 
self  need  have  been  ashamed  to  acknowledge  him  a 
brother  in  science." 

This  obituary  was  doubtless  extracted  from  a  South 
ern  newspaper,  A  fact  once  found  is  easily  found  again. 
I  have  come  across  the  name  of  this  unlettered  negro 
prodigy  many  times  since,  with  the  substance  of  the 
facts  already  stated.  In  a  letter  which  Dr.  Benj.  Rush, 
of  Philadelphia,  addressed  to  a  gentleman  in  Manches 
ter,  England,  he  says  that,  hearing  of  the  astonishing 
powers  of  Negro  Tom,  he,  in  company  with  other 
gentlemen  passing  through  Virginia,  sent  for  him.  A 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  i  800.  23 

gentleman  of  the  company  asked  Tom  how  many  sec 
onds  a  man  of  seventy  years,  some  odd  months,  weeks, 
and  days  had  lived.  He  told  the  exact  number  in  a 
minute  and  a  half.  The  gentleman  took  a  pen,  and 
having  made  the  calculation  by  figures,  told  the  negro 
that  he  must  be  mistaken,  as  the  number  was  too  great. 
"'Top,  massa,"  said  the  negro,  "you  hab  left  out  de 
leap  years/'  On  including  the  leap  years  in  the  calcu 
lation,  the  number  given  by  the  negro  was  found  to  be 
correct.* 

That  Dr.  Buchanan  did  not  mention  his  name  is  ex 
plained  by  the  fact  that  he  died  only  six  months  before; 
and  the  audience,  who  had  doubtless  read  the  obituary 
notice  just  recited,  or  a  similar  one,  knew  who  was 
meant.  Besides,  he  was  a  native  African,  and  had  no 
name  worth  having.  He  was  only  Negro  Tom.  In 
Bishop  Gregoire's  work,  however,  he  is  ennobled  by  the 
name  of  Thomas  Fuller,  and  in  Mr.  Needles'  Memoir 
by  the  name  of  Thomas  Tuller.f 

*  These  facts  may  also  be  found  in  Steadman's  Narrative  of  an  Ex 
pedition  to  Surinam,  vol.  2.  p.  160;  in  Bishop  Gregoire's  "Enquiry 
into  the  Intellectual  and  Moral  Faculties  and  Literature  of  Negroes," 
p.  153;  in  Edw.  Needles'  "Historical  Memoir  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,"  p.  32  ;  and  in  Bris- 
sot  de  Warville's  New  Travels  in  the  United  States,  p.  287,  ed.  1792. 

fMr.  Needles  says:  "  He  was  visited  by  William  Hartshorn  and 
Samuel  Coates  of  this  city  (Philadelphia),  and  gave  correct  answers  to 
all  their  questions — such  as,  how  many  seconds  there  are  in  a  year  and 


24  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1 800. 

Why  Dr.  Buchanan  should  have  omitted  to  mention 
the  name  of  £C  the  New  Orleans  physician  "  does  not 
appear,  unless  it  be  that  he  was  equally  well  known. 
His  name,  I  have  found  recently,  was  James  Derham. 
Dr.  Rush,  in  the  American  Museum  for  January,  1789, 
gave  an  account  of  Dr.  Derham,  who  was  then  a  prac 
titioner  of  medicine  at  New  Orleans,  and,  at  the  time 
the  notice  was  written,  was  visiting  in  Philadelphia. 
He  was  twenty-six  years  of  age,  married,  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  having  a  professional  income  of 
three  thousand  dollars  a  year.  He  was  born  in  Phila 
delphia  a  slave,  and  was  taught  to  read  and  write,  and 
occasionally  to  compound  medicines  for  his  master,  who 
was  a  physician.  On  the  death  of  his  master  he  was  sold 
to  the  surgeon  of  the  Sixteenth  British  regiment,  and.  at 
the  close  of  the  war  was  sold  to  Dr.  Robert  Dove,  of 
New  Orleans,  who  employed  him  as  an  assistant  in  his 
business.  He  manifested  such  capacity,  and  so  won  the 
confidence  and  friendship  of  his  master,  that  he  was 
liberated  on  easy  terms  after  two  or  three  years'  service, 
and  entered  into  practice  for  himself.  "  I  have  con 
versed  with  him,"  says  Dr.  Rush,  ct  upon  most  of  the 
acute  and  epidemic  diseases  of  the  country  where  he 
lives.  I  expected  to  have  suggested  some  new  medi- 

a  half.  In  two  minutes  he  answered  47,304,000.  How  many  sec 
onds  in  seventy  years,  seventeen  days,  twelve  hours.  In  one 
minute  and  a  half,  2,110,500,800.  He  multiplied  nine  figures  by 


nine,''  etc.,  etc. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  25 

cines  to  him,  but  he  suggested  many  more  to  me.  He 
is  very  modest  and  engaging  in  his  manners.  He 
speaks  French  fluently,  and  has  some  knowledge  of  the 
Spanish/'* 

It  was  unfortunate  that  these  incidents  had  not 
occurred  early  enough  to  have  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  Mr.  Jefferson  before  he  wrote  his  C£  Notes  on  Vir 
ginia."  These  were  precisely  the  kind  of  facts  he  was 
in  quest  of.  He  probably  would  have  used  them,  and 
have  strengthened  the  opinions  he  there  expressed  as  to 
the  intellectual  capacity  of  the  negro  race. 

His  "Notes  on  Virginia'*  were  written  in  1781-2. 
His  condemnation  of  slavery  in  that  work  is  most  em 
phatic.  "  The  whole  commerce  between  master  and 
slave,"  he  says,  "is  a  perpetual  exercise  of  the  most 
boisterous  passions  ;  the  most  unremitting  despotism 
on  the  one  part,  and  degrading  submission  on  the  other. 
Our  children  see  this  and  learn  to  imitate  it.  ... 
The  parent  storms,  the  child  looks  on,  catches  the  linea 
ments  of  wrath,  puts  on  the  same  airs  in  the  circle  of 
smaller  slaves,  gives  loose  to  his  worst  of  passions;  and 
thus  nursed,  educated,  and  daily  exercised  in  tyranny, 
can  not  but  be  stamped  by  it  with  odious  peculiarities. 
The  man  must  be  a  prodigy  who  can  retain  his  manners 
and  morals  undepraved  by  such  circumstances.  With 

^Accounts  of  these  two  black  men  were  prepared  by  Dr.  Rush,  for 
the  information  of  the  London  Society. 


26  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

what  execration  should  the  statesman  be  loaded,  who, 
permitting  one-half  the  citizens  thus  to  trample  on  the 
rights  of  the  other,  transforms  those  into  despots  and 
these  into  enemies — destroys  the  morals  of  the  one  part, 
and  the  amor  patri<e  of  the  other  ?  .  .  Can  the  lib 
erties  of  a  nation  be  thought  secure  when  we  have  re 
moved  their  only  firm  basis — a  conviction  in  the  minds 
of  men  that  these  liberties  are  the  gift  of  God;  that 
they  are  not  to  be  violated  but  with  His  wrath?  In 
deed,  I  tremble  for  my  country,  when  I  reflect  that  God 
is  just — that  His  justice  can  not  sleep  forever."  Pp. 
270-272,  ed.  Lond.,  1787. 

On  the  practical  question,  "What  shall  be  done 
about  it?"  Mr  Jefferson's  mind  wavered;  he  was  in 
doubt.  How  can  slavery  be  abolished?  He  pro 
posed,  in  Virginia,  a  law,  which  was  rejected,  making 
all  free  who  were  born  after  the  passage  of  the  act. 
And  here  again  he  hesitated.  What  will  become  of 
these  people  after  they  are  free  ?  What  are  their  capac 
ities  ?  He  had  never  seen  an  educated  negro.  He 
had  heard  of  Phillis  Wheatley  and  Ignatius  Sancho.  He 
did  not  highly  estimate  the  poetry  of  the  one,  or  the 
sentimental  letters  of  the  other.  He  was  willing  to  ad 
mit,  however,  that  a  negro  could  write  poetry  and  sen 
timental  letters.  Beyond  this  all  was  in  doubt.  He 
regarded  it  as  highly  probable  that  they  could  do  noth 
ing  more.  He  says:  "Comparing  them  by  their  fac 
ulties  of  memory,  reason,  and  imagination,  it  appears 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  27 

to  me  that  in  memory  they  are  equal  to  the  whites;  in 
reason  much  inferior,  as  I  think  one  could  scarcely  be 
found  capable  of  tracing  and  comprehending  the  inves 
tigations  of  Euclid  " — p.  232.  He  doubtingly  adds  : 
cc  The  opinion  that  they  are  inferior  in  the  faculties  of 
reason  and  imagination  must  be  hazarded  with  great 
diffidence.  To  justify  a  general  conclusion  requires 
many  observations" — p.  238.  The  opportunity  for 
making  these  observations  he  had  never  had. 

It  so  happened  that  soon  after  writing  this,  Banne- 
ker,  the  Maryland  negro  astronomer,  who  had  distin 
guished  himself  in  the  very  faculty  of  mathematical  rea 
soning  which  Mr.  Jefferson  had  supposed  no  negro 
possessed,  sent  him  his  Almanac,  with  a  letter.  To  the 
letter  Mr.  Jefferson  replied  as  follows  : 

tc  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your  letter  of  the  I9th 
instant,  and  for  the  Almanac  it  contained.  Nobody 
wishes  more  than  I  do  to  see  such  proofs  as  you  ex 
hibit,  that  nature  has  given  to  our  black  brethren  talents 
equal  to  those  of  other  colors  of  men,  and  that  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  want  of  them  is  owing  merely  to  the  de 
graded  condition  of  their  existence,  both  in  Africa  and 
America.  I  can  add  with  truth,  that  nobody  wishes 
more  ardently  to  see  a  good  system  commenced  for 
raising  the  condition,  both  of  their  body  and  mind,  to 
what  it  ought  to  be,  as  fast  as  the -imbecility  of  their 
present  existence,  and  other  circumstances  which  can 
not  be  neglected,  will  admit.  I  have  taken  the  liberty 


28  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

of  sending  your  Almanac  to  Monsieur  de  Condorcet, 
Secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris,  and  mem 
ber  of  the  Philanthropic  Society,  because  I  consider  it 
a  document  to  which  your  color  had  a  right  for  their 
justification  against  the  doubts  which  have  been  enter 
tained  of  them.  I  am,  with  great  esteem,  sir,  your 
most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"  THOS.  JEFFERSON."  * 

The  next  instances  of  precocious  black  men  which 
must  have  come  to  his  knowledge  were,  doubtless, 
Negro  Tom,  in  whom  the  mathematical  faculty  was 
strangely  developed,  and  James  Derham,  the  New 
Orleans  physician.  If  Mr.  Jefferson  had  rewritten  his 
"Notes,"  he  would,  probably,  have  included  mathe 
matics  and  medicine  among  the  special  subjects  which 
were  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  capacities  of  the  negro 
mind. 

It  was  not  the  question  of  the  natural  rights  of  the 
negro,  the  prejudice  of  color,  nor  of  the  ruinous  im 
providence  of  the  system  of  slavery,  that  controlled  the 
decision  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  mind,  as  to  the  methods  by 
which  the  system  should  be  terminated.  On  these 
points,  he  was  as  radical  as  the  extremest  abolitionist; 
but  he  could  not  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  mental  capac 
ity  of  the  negro — whether  he  had  the  full  complement 
of  human  capabilities,  and  the  qualifications  for  equality 

*  Works,  iii,  p.  291. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  29 

of  citizenship  with  the  white  man  ;  for  he  saw  that 
emancipation,  without  expatriation,  meant  nothing  else  i  \ 
than  giving  the  black  man  all  the  rights  of  citizenship. 
The  theory  that  the  negro  is  a  decaudalized  ape,  a  pro 
gressing  chimpanzee,  is  an  invention  of  the  last  forty 
years,  and  contemporaneous  with  the  discovery  that  the 
Bible  sanctions  slavery.  He  was,  on  the  whole,  in 
clined  to  the  opinion  that  they  were  an  inferior  race  of 
beings,  and  that  their  residence,  in  a  state  of  freedom, 
among  white  men  was  incompatible  with  the  happiness 
of  both.  He  thought  they  had  better  be  emancipated, 
and  sent  out  of  the  country.  He  therefore  took  up 
with  the  colonization  scheme  long  before  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society  was  founded.  He  did  not  feel  sure  on  this 
point.  With  his  practical  mind,  he  could  not  see  how 
a  half  million  of  slaves  could  be  sent  out  of  the  country, 
even  if  they  were  voluntarily  liberated;*  where  they 

*In  a  letter  to  M.  de  Meusnier,  dated  January  24,  1786,  Mr. 
Jefferson  says  :  u  I  conjecture  there  are  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
negroes  in  the  five  southermost  states,  and  not  fifty  thousand  in  the  rest. 
In  most  of  the  latter,  effectual  measures  have  been  taken  for  their  future 
emancipation.  In  the  former  nothing  is  done  toward  that.  The  dis 
position  to  emancipate  them  is  strongest  in  Virginia.  Those  who  de 
sire  it,  form,  as  yet,  the  minority  of  the  whole  state,  but  it  bears  a  re 
spectable  proportion  to  the  whole,  in  numbers  and  weight  of  character  ; 
and  it  is  constantly  recruiting  by  the  addition  of  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  young  men  as  fast  as  they  come  into  public  life.  I  flatter  myself 
that  it  will  take  place  there  at  some  period  of  time  not  very  distant. 
In  Maryland  and  North  Carolina,  a  very  few  are  disposed  to  emanci- 


30  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

should  be  sent  to,  or  how  unwilling  masters  could  be 
compelled  to  liberate  their  slaves.  While,  therefore,  he 
did  not  favor  immediate  emancipation,  he  was  zealous 
for  no  other  scheme. 

Bishop  Gregoire,  of  Paris,  felt  deeply  hurt  at  Mr. 
Jefferson's  low  estimate  of  the  negro's  mental  capacity, 
and  wrote  to  him  a  sharp  letter  on  the  subject.  Later, 
the  Bishop  sent  a  copy  of  his  own  book  on  the  Litera 
ture  of  Negroes.*  Acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the 
Bishop's  book,  Mr.  Jefferson  says  : 

"  Be  assured  that  no  person  living  wishes  more  sin 
cerely  than  I  do,  to  see  a  complete  refutation  of  the 
doubts  I  have  myself  entertained  and  expressed  on  the 
grade  and  understanding  allotted  to  them  by  nature, 
and  to  find  that,  in  this  respect,  they  are  on  a  par  with 
ourselves.  My  doubts  were  the  result  of  personal  ob 
servation  on  the  limited  sphere  of  my  own  State,  where 
the  opportunities  for  the  development  of  their  genius 
were  not  favorable,  and  those  of  exercising  it  still  less 

pate.  In  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  not  the  smallest  symptom  of 
it  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  these  two  states  and  North  Carolina  continue 
importations  of  slaves.  These  have  long  been  prohibited  in  all  the 
other  states."  Works,  ix,  p.  290. 

*"De  la  Litterature  des  Negres;  ou  Recherches  sur  leurs  Facultes 
Intellectuelles,  leurs  Qualites  Morales  et  leur  Litterature,  Paris,  1808." 
8vo.  The  work  was  translated  by  D.  B.  Warden,  Secretary  of  the 
American  Legation  at  Paris,  and  printed  at  Brooklyn,  New  York,  in 
1810. 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  31 

so.  I  expressed  them,  therefore,  with  great  hesitation  ; 
but  whatever  be  their  degree  of  talent,  it  is  no  measure 
of  their  rights.  Because  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  superior 
to  others  in  understanding,  he  was  not  therefore  lord  of 
the  person  and  property  of  others.  On  this  subject 
they  are  gaining  daily  in  the  opinions  of  nations,  and 
hopeful  advances  are  making  toward  their  re-establish 
ment  on  an  equal  footing  with  other  colors  of  the  human 
family.  I  pray  you,  therefore,  to  accept  my  thanks  for 
the  many  instances  you  have  enabled  me  to  observe  of 
respectable  intelligence  in  that  race  of  men,  which  can 
not  fail  to  have  effect  in  hastening  the  day  of  their  re 
lief."  Works,  v,  p.  429. 

Writing  to  another  person  a  few  months  later,  he 
alludes  to  this  letter  and  says :  "As  to  Bishop  Gregoire, 
I  wrote  him  a  very  soft  answer.  It  was  impossible  for 
a  doubt  to  be  more  tenderly  or  hesitatingly  expressed 
than  it  was  in  the  Notes  on  Virginia;  and  nothing  was, 
or  is,  further  from  my  intentions  than  to  enlist  myself 
as  a  champion  of  a  fixed  opinion,  where  I  have  only  ex 
pressed  a  doubt."  Works,  v,  p.  476. 

Mr.  Jefferson  never  got  beyond  his  doubt ;  and 
Bishop  Gregoire  resented  his  passive  position  by  omit 
ting  Mr.  Jefferson's  name  from  a  list  of  fourteen  Amer 
icans,  which  included  Mr.  Madison,  William  Pinkney, 
Dr.  Benj.  Rush,  Timothy  Dwight,  Col.  Humphreys, 
and  Joel  Barlow,  to  whom,  with  other  philanthropists, 
he  dedicated  his  book. 


32  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

Washington,  Madison,  Patrick  Henry,  George 
Mason,  and  nearly  all  the  public  men  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland  of  that  period  were  in  much  the  same  state  of 
mind  as  Jefferson.*  So  was  Henry  Clay  at  a  later 
period. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  in  August,  1785,  wrote  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Richard  Price,  of  London,  author  of  a  treatise  on  Lib 
erty,  in  which  very  advanced  opinions  were  taken  on 

*Gen.  Washington,  although  a  slaveholder,  put  on  record  through 
out  his  voluminous  correspondence  his  detestation  of  the  system  of 
slavery,  as  practiced  at  the  South. 

M.  Brissot  de  Warville,  in  connection  with  Gen.  Lafayette  and  other 
French  philanthropists,  early  in  the  year  1788,  formed  at  Paris  the 
Philanthropic  Society  of  the  Friends  of  Negroes,  to  co-operate  with 
those  in  America  and  London,  in  procuring  the  abolition  of  the  traffic  in, 
and  the  slavery  of,  the  blacks.  In  furtherance  of  this  object,  M.  Brissot 
de  Warville  delivered  an  oration  in  Paris,  February  17,  1788,  which 
was  translated  and  printed  by  the  Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society,  in 
Philadelphia,  the  next  year.  In  May  of  the  same  year,  he  arrived  in 
the  United  States,  and  wrote  the  most  impartial  and  instructive  book  of 
travels  in  America  (with  the  exception  of  M.  de  Tocqueville's),  that 
has  ever  been  made  by  a  foreigner,  of  which  several  editions  in  English 
were  printed  in  London.  His  principles  brought  him  into  intimate 
relations  with  persons  who  held  anti-slavery  sentiments,  and  his  work 
gives  a  very  interesting  epitome  of  the  prevalence  of  those  sentiments 
at  that  period. 

He  visited  General  Washington  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  conversed 
with  him  freely  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  He  states  that  the  General 
had  three  hundred  slaves  distributed  in  log  houses  in  different  parts  of 
his  plantation  of  ten  thousand  acres.  "They  were  treated,"  he  said, 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  33 

the  slavery  question.  Concerning  the  prevalence  of 
anti-siavery  opinions  at  that  period,  he  says:  "  South 
ward  of  the  Chesapeake  your  book  will  find  but  few 
readers  concurring  with  it  in  sentiment  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  From  the  mouth  to  the  head  of  the  Chesa 
peake,  the  bulk  of  the  people  will  approve  its  theory, 
and  it  will  find  a  respectable  minority,  a  minority  ready 
to  adopt  it  in  practice;  which,  for  weight  and  worth 
of  character,  preponderates  against  the  greater  num- 

"  with  the  greatest  humanity;  well  fed,  well  clothed,  and  kept  to  mod 
erate  labor.  They  bless  God  without  ceasing  for  having  given  them 
so  good  a  master.  It  is  a  task  worthy  of  a  soul  so  elevated,  so  pure 
and  so  disinterested,  to  begin  the  revolution  in  Virginia  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  emancipation  of  the  negroes.  This  great  man  declared  to 
me  that  he  rejoiced  at  what  was  doing  in  other  States  on  the  subject 
[of  emancipation — alluding  to  the  recent  formation  of  several  state 
societies] ;  that  he  sincerely  desired  the  extension  of  it  in  his  own  State  ; 
but  he  did  not  dissemble  that  there  were  still  many  obstacles  to  be 
overcome  ;  that  it  was  dangerous  to  strike  too  vigorously  at  a  prejudice 
which  had  begun  to  diminish;  that  time,  patience,  and  information 
would  not  fail  to  vanquish  it.  Almost  all  the  Virginians,  he  added, 
believe  that  the  liberty  of  the  blacks  can  not  soon  become  general. 
This  is  the  reason  why  they  do  not  wish  to  form  a  society  which  may 
give  dangerous  ideas  to  their  slaves.  There  is  another  obstacle — the 
great  plantations  of  which  the  state  is  composed,  render  it  necessary 
for  men  to  live  so  dispersed  that  frequent  meetings  of  a  society  would 
be  difficult. 

"I  replied,  that  the  Virginians  were  in  an  error;  that  evidently, 
sooner  or  later,  the  negroes  would  obtain^  their  liberty  everywhere. 
It  is  then  for  the  interest  of  your  countrymen  to  prepare  the  way 
to  such  a  revolution,  by  endeavoring  to  reconcile  the  restitution  of 


34  Anti-  Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

ber  who  have  not  the  courage  to  divest  their  fami 
lies  of  a  property  which,  however,  keeps  their  con 
sciences  unquiet.  Northward  of  the  Chesapeake  you 
may  find,  here  and  there,  an  opponent  to  your  doctrine, 
as  you  find,  here  and  there,  a  robber  and  murderer,  but 
in  no  greater  number.  In  that  part  of  America  there 
are  but  few  slaves,  and  they  can  easily  disincumber  them 
selves  of  them  ;  and  emancipation  is  put  in  such  a  train 

the  rights  of  the  blacks,  with  the  interest  of  the  whites.  The  means 
necessary  to  be  taken  to  this  effect  can  only  be  the  work  of  a  society ; 
and  it  is  worthy  the  saviour  of  America  to  put  himself  at  the  head,  and 
to  open  the  door  of  liberty  to  300,000  unhappy  beings  of  his  own 
State.  He  told  me  that  he  desired  the  formation  of  a  society,  and  that 
he  would  second  it;  but  that  he  did  not  think  the  moment  favorable. 
Doubtless  more  elevated  views  filled  his  soul.  The  destiny  of  America 
was  just  ready  to  be  placed  a  second  time  in  his  hands."  Ed.  of  1792, 
pp.  290,  291. 

"  The  strongest  objection  to  freeing  the  negroes  lies  in  the  character, 
the  manners,  and  habits  of  the  Virginians.  They  seem  to  enjoy  the 
sweat  of  slaves.  They  are  fond  of  hunting ;  they  love  the  display  of 
luxury,  and  disdain  the  idea  of  labor.  This  order  of  things  will 
change  when  slavery  shall  be  no  more."  Id.,  p.  281. 

Patrick  Henry,  in  the  Virginia  Constitutional  Convention,  oppos 
ing  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  said  :  "  In  this  State  there 
are  236,000  blacks.  May  Congress  not  say  that  every  black  man  must 
fight?  Did  we  not  see  a  little  of  this  in  the  last  war?  We  were  not 
so  hard  pushed  as  to  make  emancipation  general ;  but  acts  of  Assembly 
passed  that  every  slave  who  would  go  to  the  army  should  be  free. 
Another  thing  will  contribute  to  bring  this  event  [emancipation]  about. 
Slavery  is  detested.  We  feel  its  fatal  effects;  we  deplore  it  with  all 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  35 

that  in  a  few  years  there  will  be  no  slaves  northward  of 
Maryland.  In  Maryland  I  do  not  find  such  a  disposi 
tion  to  begin  the  redress  of  this  enormity  as  in  Virginia. 
These  [the  inhabitants  of  Virginia]  have  sucked  in  the 
principles  of  liberty,  as  it  were,  with  their  mothers' 
milk,  and  it  is  to  these  I  look  with  anxiety  to  turn  the 
fate  of  this  question.  Be  not,  therefore,  discouraged. 
The  College  of  William  and  Mary  in  Williamsburg, 

the  pity  of  humanity.  Have  they  [Congress]  not  power  to  provide 
for  the  general  defense  and  welfare?  May  they  not  think  that  these 
call  for  the  abolition  of  slavery?  May  they  not  pronounce  all  slaves 
free,  and  will  they  not  be  warranted  by  that  power  ? 

"  I  repeat  it  again,  that  it  would  rejoice  my  very  soul,  that  every  one  of 
my  fellow-beings  were  emancipated.  As  we  ought,  with  gratitude,  to 
admire  that  decree  of  Heaven  which  has  numbered  us  among  the 
free,  we  ought  to  lament  and  deplore  the  necessity  of  holding  our 
fellow-men  in  bondage.  But  is  it  practicable, , by  any  human  means, 
to  liberate  them  without  producing  the  most  dreadful  and  ruinous  con 
sequences  ?"  Elliott's  Debates,  Va.,  pp.  590,  591. 

George  Mason,  in  the  same  convention,  speaking  against  article  I, 
section  9,  of  the  Constitution,  which  forbids  Congress  from  prohibit 
ing  the  importation  of  slaves  before  the  year  1808,  said:  "  It  [the  im 
portation  of  slaves]  was  one  of  the  great  causes  of  our  separation  from 
Great  Britain.  Its  exclusion  has  been  a  principal  object  of  this  State, 
and  most  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  The  augmentation  of  slaves 
weakens  the  States;  and  such  a  trade  is  diabolical  in  itself,  and  disgrace 
ful  to  mankind  :  yet,  by  this  Constitution,  it  is  continued  for  twenty 
years.  As  much  as  I  value  a  union  of  all  the  States,  I  would  not  ad 
mit  the  Southern  States  into  the  Union,  unless  they  agree  to  the  discon 
tinuance  of  this  disgraceful  trade,  because  it  brings  weakness,  and  not 
strength,  to  the  Union."  Elliott's  Debates,  Va.,  p.  45  z. 


J 


36  Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

since  the  remodeling  of  its  plan,  is  the  place  where  are 
collected  together  all  the  young  men  of  Virginia  under 
preparation  for  public  life.  There  they  are  under  the 
direction  (most  of  them)  of  a  Mr.  George  Wythe  [Pro 
fessor  of  Law  from  1779  to  1789],  one  of  the  most  vir 
tuous  of  characters,  and  whose  sentiments  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  are  unequivocal.  I  am  satisfied  if  you 
could  resolve  to  address  an  exhortation  to  these  young 
men,  with  all  the  eloquence  of  which  you  are  master, 
that  its  influence  on  the  future  decision  of  this  impor 
tant  question  would  be  great,  perhaps  decisive." 
Works,  i,  p.  377. 

*Mr.  Jefferson's  doubts,  and  his  timidity,  as  a  person  of  political  as 
pirations,  in  treating  the  subject  of  slavery  in  a  practical  manner,  re 
duced  his  conduct  to  the  verge  of  cowardice,  if  not  of  duplicity.  While 
writing  to  Dr.  Price  in  this  assured  tone,  and  urging  him  to  exhort  the 
young  men  of  the  College  of  W  illiam  and  Mary,  on  the  evils  of  slavery, 
he  was  afraid  to  have  these  same  students  see  what  he  had  himself 
written  on  the  same  subject,  in  his  "  Notes  on  Virginia."  M.  de 
Chastelleux  had  written  to  him  desiring  to  print  some  extracts  from  the 
"  Notes  on  Virginia/'  in  the  Journal  de  Physique.  Mr.  Jefferson  re 
plied,  June  7,  1785,  only  two  months  before  he  wrote  the  above  letter 
to  Dr.  Price,  saying :  "  I  am  not  afraid  that  you  should  make  any  ex 
tracts  you  please  for  the  Journal  de  Physique,  which  come  within  their 
plan  of  publication.  The  strictures  on  slavery,  and  on  the  constitu 
tion  of  Virginia,  are  not  of  that  kind,  and  they  are  the  parts  which  I 
do  not  wish  to  have  made  public;  at  least,  till  I  know  whether  their 
publication  would  do  most  harm  or  good.  It  is  possible  that,  in  my 
own  country,  these  strictures  might  produce  an  irritation  which  would 
indispose  the  people  toward  the  two  great  objects  I  have  in  view;  that 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  37 

There  was  great  progress  in  anti-slavery  sentiment 
between  1785  and  1791,  when  Maryland  was  fully 
awake,  as  we  see  from  Dr.  Buchanan's  Oration.  In 
proof  of  this  progress,  it  may  be  stated  that,  in  1784, 
Mr.  Jefferson  drew  up  an  ordinance  for  the  government 
of  the  Western  territories,  in  which  he  inserted  an  arti 
cle  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  territories  after  the  year 
1800.  On  reporting  the  ordinance  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  article  prohibiting  slavery  was  forthwith 
stricken  out,  and  the  report,  as  amended,  was  accepted ; 
but  the  ordinance  itself  was  a  dead  letter.  Three  years 
later,  the  celebrated  Ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  organ- 
is,  the  emancipation  of  their  slaves,  and  the  settlement  of  their  consti 
tution  on  a  firmer  and  more  permanent  basis.  If  I  learn  from  thence 
that  they  will  not  produce  that  effect,  I  have  printed  and  reserved  just 
copies  enough  to  be  able  to  give  one  to  every  young  man  at  the  Col 
lege."  Works,  i,  p.  339. 

Writing  from  Paris,  August  13,  1786,  to  George  Wythe,  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  says:  "Madison,  no  doubt,  informed  you  why  I  sent  only  a 
single  copy  of  my  '  Notes '  to  Virginia.  Being  assured  by  him  that 
they  will  not  do  the  harm  I  had  apprehended;  but,  on  the  contray,  may 
do  some  good,  I  propose  to  send  thither  the  copies  remaining  on  hand, 
which  are  fewer  than  I  intended."  Works,  ii,  p.  6.  Mr.  Madison's 
communications  to  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  subject  are  in  his  "Letters 
and  other  Writings,"  i,  pp.  202,  211.  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  pro 
posed  to  Mr.  Jefferson  to  become  a  member  of  the  Philanthropic 
Society  of  Paris.  Mr.  Jefferson  replied,  February  12,  1788,33  fol 
lows:  "I  am  very  sensible  of  the  honor  you  propose  to  me,  of  be 
coming  a  member  of  the  society  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade. 
You  know  that  nobody  wishes  more  ardently  to  see  an  abolition,  not 


3  8  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

ization  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  embracing  what  is 
now  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
and  Wisconsin,  was  reported  by  a  committee  consisting 
of  Edward  Carrington  of  Virginia,  Nathan  Dane  of 
Massachusetts,  Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia,  John 
Kean  of  South  Carolina,  and  Melancthon  Smith  of  New 
York,  acting  under  the  advice  of  Dr.  Mannasseh  Cut- 

3  O 

ler,  citizen  of  Massachusetts,  who  was  then  in  New  York, 
attending  the  sessions  of  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of 
buying  land  for  the  Ohio  Company,  which  made,  the 
next  year,  the  first  English  settlement  in  that  Territory, 
at  Marietta.  The  Ordinance  provided  that  "there 
shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the 

only  of  the  trade,  but  of  the  condition  of  slavery  ;  and  certainly  no 
body  will  be  more  willing  to  encounter  every  sacrifice  for  that  object. 
But  the  influence  and  information  of  the  friends  to  this  proposition  in 
France,  will  be  far  above  the  need  of  "my  association.  I  am  here  as  a 
public  servant;  and  those  whom  I  serve,  having  never  yet  been  able  to 
give  their  voice  against  the  practice,  it  is  decent  for  me  to  avoid  too 
public  demonstration  of  my  wishes  to  see  it  abolished.  Without  serv 
ing  the  cause  here,  it  might  render  me  less  able  to  serve  it  beyond  the 
water.  I  trust  you  will  be  sensible  of  the  prudence  of  those  motives, 
therefore,  which  govern  my  conduct  on  this  occasion,  and  be  assured 
of  my  wishes  for  the  success  of  your  undertaking."  Works,  ii,  p.  357. 
Compare  this  record  with  Mr.  Garrison's,  which  he  put  forth  in 
the  "Liberator,"  in  1831.  He  had  been  accused  of  using  plain  and 
harsh  language.  He  says:  "  My  country  is  the  world,  and  my  country 
men  are  all  mankind.  I  will  be  as  harsh  as  truth,  and  as  uncompromis 
ing  as  justice.  lam  in  earnest;  I  will  not  equivocate;  I  will  not  ex 
cuse  ;  I  will  not  retreat  a  single  inch  ;  and  /  will  be  beard" 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  39 

said  Territory."  It  was  passed  without  debate,  or  the 
offer  (except  by  the  committee)  of  an  amendment,  by 
the  vote  of  every  state.  A  few  years  earlier  or  later, 
such  a  vote  would  have  been  impossible.*  Just  before 
this  date,  commenced  the  great  Southern  awakening  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  of  which  so  little  is  now  known, 
and  of  which  Dr.  Buchanan's  Oration  is  an  illustration. 
There  never  has  been  a  time  since  1619,  when  the 
first  slave  ship,  a  Dutch  man-of-war,  entered  James 
river,  in  Virginia,  when  in  our  country  there  were  not 
persons  protesting  against  the  wickedness  and  impolicy 
of  the  African  slave  trade  and  of  the  domestic  slave  sys 
tem.  Slavery  was  introduced  into  the  American  colo 
nies,  aeainst  the  wishes  of  the  settlers,  by  the  avarice 

'      o 

of  British  traders  and  with  the  connivance  of  the  British 
government.       Just   previous    to   the    Revolution,    the 

*Mr.  Jeffersons'  indecision  in  dealing  with  an  institution  he  so  much 
abhorred,  is  seen  in  the  anti-slavery  provision  of  his  ordinance.  He 
would  allow  slavery  to  get  a  foot-hold  in  the  western  territories,  and 
at  the  end  of  sixteen  years  would  prohibit  it.  ]  By  southern  votes,  this 
clause  was  fortunately  stricken  out.  Every  northern  state  voted  to  re 
tain  Mr.  Jefferson's  fifth  article  of  compact,  and  its  rejection,  which 
was  regarded  at  the  time,  as  a  public  calamity,  was  soon  seen  to  be  a 
piece  of  good  fortune.  Timothy  Pickering,  wriiing  to  Rufus  King, 
nearly  a  year  later  (March  8,  1785),  says  :  '•  I  should  indeed  have  ob 
jected  to  the  period  proposed  (1800)  for  the  exclusion  of  slavery;  for 
the  admission  of  it  for  a  day,  or  an  hour,  ought  to  have  been  forbidden. 
It  will  be  infinitely  easier  to  prevent  the  evil  at  first,  than  to  eradicate 
it,  or  check  it,  at  any  future  time.  To  suffer  the  continuance  of  slaves 


4O  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

Colony  of  Massachusetts  made  several  attempts  to  re 
lieve  itself  of  the  incubus,  and  the  acts  of  the  General 
Court  were  smothered  or  vetoed  by  three  successive 
Governors,  under  the  plea  that  they  had  such  instruc 
tions  from  England.  In  1772,  the  Assembly  of  Virginia 
petitioned  the  throne  of  England  to  stop  the  importa 
tion  of  slaves,  using  language  as  follows:  "  We  are  en 
couraged  to  look  up  to  the  throne  and  implore  your 
Majesty's  paternal  assistance  in  averting  a  calamity  of  a 
most  alarming  nature.  The  importation  of  slaves  into 
the  colonies  from  the  coast  of  Africa  hath  long  been 
considered  as  a  trade  of  great  inhumanity,  and  under  its 
present  encouragement,  we  have  much  reason  to  fear  will 
endanger  the  very  existence  of  your  Majesty's  domin 
ions.  Deeply  impressed  with  these  sentiments,  we 
most  humbly  beseech  your  Majesty  to  remove  all  re 
straints  on  your  Majesty's  Governors  of  this  colony, 

till  they  can  be  gradually  emancipated,  in  states  already  overrun  with 
them,  may  be  pardonable  ;  but  to  introduce  them  into  a  territory  where 
none  now  exist,  can  never  be  forgiven.  For  God's  sake,  let  one  more 
effort  be  made  to  prevent  so  terrible  a  calamity." 

Mr.  King,  eight  days  later,  moved,  in  Congress,  to  attach  an  article 
of  compact  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  ordinance,  in  the  place  of  the  one  stricken 
out,  in  substantially  the  words  that  stand  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787: 
"  That  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  any 
of  the  States  described  in  the  resolve  of  Congress  of  April  23,  1784." 
The  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee  ;  but  was  never  taken  up  and 
acted  on.  If  Mr.  King's  resolution  had  passed,  it  would  have  excluded 
slavery  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  all  the  Western  territories. 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  41 

which  inhibit  to  their  assisting  to  such  laws  as  might 
check  so  very  pernicious  a  commerce."  No  notice  was 
taken  of  the  petition  by  the  crown.  This  was  the  prin 
cipal  grievance  complained  of  by  Virginia  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  revolutionary  war. 

The  limits  allowed  me  forbid  my  giving  even  a  sketch 
of  legislative  action,  of  the  opinions  of  great  men,  of 
the  labors  of  Samuel  Sewall,  George  Keith,  Samuel 
Hopkins,  William  Burling,  Ralph  Sandiford,  Anthony 
Benezet,  Benjamin  Lay,  John  Woolman,  and  others,  and 
of  the  literature  of  the  subject,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
irrepressible  conflict  in  1619  down  to  the  period  we  are 
considering.* 

*George  Keith,  a  Quaker,  about  the  year  1693,  printed  a  pamphlet 
in  which  he  charged  his  own  religious  denomination,  «  that  they  should 
set  their  negroes  at  liberty,  after  some  reasonable  time  of  service." 
Samuel  Sewall,  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  pf  Massachusetts,  in  1700, 
printed  a  tract  against  slavery,  entitled,  "The  Selling  of  Joseph,  a 
Memorial,"  which  he  gave  to  each  member  of  the  Qeneral  Court,  to  cler^ 
gymen,  and  to  literary  gentlemen  with  whom  fye  was  acquainted.  This 
tract  is  reprinted  in  Moore's  "  Notes  on  Slavery  in  Massachusetts,"  p, 
83.  These  were  the  earliest  publications  on  slavery  in  this  country. 
Dr.  Franklin  having  mentioned  Keith's  pamphlet,  says :  "About  the 
year  1728  or  1729,  I  myself  printed  a  book  for  Ralph  Sandyford, 
another  of  your  friends  in  this  city,  against  keeping  negroes  in 
slavery;  two  editions  of  which  he  distributed  gratis.  And  about  the 
year  1736,  I  printed  another  book  on  the  same  subject  for  Benjamin  Lay, 
who  also  professed  being  one  of  your  friends,  and  he  distributed  the 
books  chiefly  among  them."  Works,  x,  403. 

The  earliest  statute  for  the  suppression  of  slavery  in  the  colonies 


42  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

T~ — 

The  revolutionary  war,  and  the  questions  which  then 

arose,  turned  the  thoughts  of  men,  as  never  before,  to 
the  injustice  and  impolicy  of  slavery.  At  the  first  gen 
eral  Congress  of  the  colonies,  held  at  Philadelphia  in 
1774,  Mr.  Jefferson  presented  an  exposition  of  rights,  in 
which  he  says  :  "  The  abolition  of  slavery  is  the  greatest 
object  of  desire  in  these  colonies,  when  it  was  unhappily 
introduced  in  their  infant  state."  Among  the  "articles 
of  association"  adopted  by  that  Congress,  October  20, 
1774,  was  this  :  cc  That  we  will  neither  import,  nor  pur 
chase  any  slave  imported,  after  the  first  day  of  December 
next,  nor  will  we  hire  our  vessels,  nor  sell  our  commod 
ities  or  manufactures  to  those  who  are  concerned  in  the 
slave  trade," 

The  first  anti-slavery  society,   in   this  or  any  other 

may  be  seen  in  Rhode  Island  Records,  i,  248,  under  the  date  of  May 
19,  1652,  which,  however,  was  never  enforced. 

The  earliest  legislative  protest  against  man-stealing,  is  the  following: 
"  The  General  Court,  conceiving  themselves  bound  by  the  first  oppor 
tunity,  to  bear  witness  against  the  heinous  and  crying  sin  of  man-steal 
ing,  and  also  to  prescribe  such  timely  redress  for  what  is  past,  and  such 
a  law  for  the  future,  as  may  sufficiently  deter  all  others  belonging  to  us 
to  have  to  do  in  such  vile  and  most  odious  courses,  justly  abhorred  of 
all  good  and  just  men — do  order  that  the  negro  interpreter,  with  others 
unlawfully  taken,  be,  by  the  first  opportunity,  (at  the  charge  of  the 
country  for  present)  sent  to  his  native  country  of  Guinea,  and  a  letter 
with  him  of  the  indignation  of  the  Court  thereabouts,  and  justice 
hereof — desiring  our  honored  Governor  would  please  to  put  this  order 
in  execution."  November  4,  1646,  Massachusetts  Records,  ii,  p.  168. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1 800.  43 

country,  was  formed  April  14,  1775,  at  tne  Sun  Tavern, 
on  Second  street,  in  Philadelphia.  The  original  mem 
bers  of  this  society  were  mostly,  and  perhaps  all  of  them, 
Friends  or  Quakers.  This  religious  society  had,  for 
many  years,  earnestly  protested  against  slavery.  As 
early  as  1696  the  yearly  meeting  had  cautioned  its  mem 
bers  against  encouraging  the  bringing  in  of  any  more 
negroes.  In  1743,  and,  again  in  1755,  the  annual  query 
was  made,  whether  their  members  were  clear  of  importing 
or  buying  slaves.  In  1758,  those  who  disobeyed  the 
advice  of  the  yearly  meeting  were  placed  under  discipline; 
and  in  1776,  those  who  continued  to  hold  slaves  over  the 
lawful  age,  were  disowned.* 

The  first  anti-slavery  society  took  the  name  of  cc  The 
Society  for  the  Relief  of  Free  Negroes  unlawfully  held  in 
Bondage."f  The  society  met  four  times  in  1775,  and  on 

*Patrick  Henry,  in  a  letter  dated  January  I  8,  1773,  to  Robert  Pleas- 
ants,  afterwards  President  of  the  Virginia  Abolition  Society,  said: 
"  Believe  me,  I  shall  honor  the  Quakers  for  their  noble  efforts  to 
abolish  slavery.  It  is  a  debt  we  owe  to  the  purity  of  our  religion  to 
show  that  it  is  at  variance  with  that  law  that  warrants  slavery.  I  ex 
hort  you  to  persevere  in  so  worthy  a  resolution.  I  believe  a  time  will 
come  when  an  opportunity  will  be  offered  to  abolish  this  lamentable 
evil."  Wm.  Goodell's  Slavery  and  Anti-Slavery,  p.  70. 

-j-The  preamble  of  the  Constitution  then  adopted  was  as  follows: 
"  Whereas,  there  are  in  this  and  the  neighboring  states  a  number  of 
negroes  and  others  kept  in  a  state  of  slavery,  who,  we  apprehend,  from 
different  causes  and  circumstances,  are  justly  entitled  to  their  freedom 
by  the  laws  and  Constitution  under  which  we  live,  could  their  particular 


44  Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

account  of  the  war  no  meeting  occurred  again  till  Febru 
ary,  1784,  I  was  so  fortunate  to  find  among  some 
pamphlets,  presented  to  our  Public  Library  a  short  time 
since,  an  original  copy  of  the  cc  Rules  and  Regulations  "  of 
this  society,  printed  in  1784,  which  I  have  here.*  Regu- 

cases  be  candidly  and  openly  debated,  and  evidence  to  the  best  advan 
tage  for  them  procured;  but  as  in  their  situation,  they,  being  tied  by 
the  strong  cords  of  oppression,  are  rendered  incapable  of  asserting  their 
freedom,  and  many  through  this  inability  remain  unjustly  in  bondage 
through  life ;  it  therefore  has  appeared  necessary  that  some  aid  should 
be  extended  towards  such  poor  unhappy  sufferers,  wherever  they  may 
be  discovered,  either  in  this  city  or  its  neighborhood;  and,  as  loosing 
the  bonds  of  wickedness,  and  setting  the  oppressed  free,  is  evidently 
a  duty  incumbent  on  all  professors  of  Christianity,  but  more  especially 
at  a  time  when  justice,  liberty,  and  the  laws  of  theltand  are  the  general 
topics  among  most  ranks  and  stations  of  men.  Therefore,  being  desirous, 
as  much  as  in  us  lies,  to  contribute  towards  obtaining  relief  for  all  such 
as  are  kept  thus  unjustly  in  thralldom,  we  have  agreed  to  inspect  and 
take  charge  of  all  the  particular  cases  which  may  hereafter  come  to  our 
knowledge  ;  and  that  our  good  intentions  may  operate  the  more  suc 
cessfully,  and  be  of  general  utility  to  such  as  stand  in  need  of  our  as 
sistance,  we  judge  it  expedient  to  form  ourselves  into  a  regular  society, 
by  the  name  of  "  The  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Free  Negroes  unlaw 
fully  held  in  Bondage."  The  officers  elected  were  John  Baldwin, 
President;  Samuel  Davis,  Treasurer;  Thomas  Harrison,  Secretary. 
Six  members  were  also  appointed  a  Committee  of  Inspection,  and  a 
number  of  cases  were  forthwith  committed  to  their  care.  Edw. 
Needles's  Historical  Memoir  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society,  p.  15. 

*Appended  to  the  Rules  and  Regulations,  is  the  act  of  1780,  provid 
ing  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania.  The  mem 
bers  of  the  Philadelphia  Society  were  especially  active  in  procuring 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1 800.  45 

lar  meetings  were  held  till  April,  1787,  when  the  constitu 
tion  was  revised  and  made  to  include  the  "Abolition  of 
Slavery"  as  well  as  the  "Relief  of  Free  Negroes"  and 
Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin  was  chosen  president,  and  Benja 
min  Rush,  secretary,  both  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.* 

the  passage  of  this  act.  Anthony  Benezet  held  private  interviews  with 
every  member  of  the  government  on  the  subject.  The  act  passed  the 
assembly  by  a  vote  of  34  to  21.  The  minority  entered  a  protest 
against  it  on  several  grounds  :  First,  because  it  would  be  offensive  to 
other  states,  and  would  weaken  the  bonds  of  union  with  them  ;  Sec 
ond,  while  they  approved  of  the  justice  and  humanity  of  manumitting 
slaves  in  time  of  peace,  this  was  not  the  proper  time  ;  Third,  they  did 
not  approve  of  slaves  becoming  citizens,  of  their  voting  and  being 
voted  for,  of  intermarrying  with  white  persons,  etc. ;  Fourth,  because 
the  motion  to  postpone  to  the  next  session  of  the  Assembly  had  been 
overruled. 

*James  Pemberton  and  Jonathan  Penrose  were  chosen  Vice-Presi- 
dents;  James  Starr,  Treasurer;  and  Wm.  Lewis,  John  D.  Cox,  Miers 
Fisher,  and  Wrn.  Rawle,  Counselors.  Thirty-six  new  members  were 
elected  at  this  meeting.  The  preamble  of  the  new  organization  was 
as  follows:  "It  having  pleased  the  Creator  of  the  world  to  make  of 
one  flesh  all  the  children  of  men,  it  becomes  them  to  consult  and  pro 
mote  each  other's  happiness,  as  members  of  the  same  family,  however 
diversified  they  may  be  by  color,  situation,  religion,  or  different  states 
of  society.  It  is  more  especially  the  duty  of  those  persons  who  pro 
fess  to  maintain  for  themselves  the  rights  of  human  nature^and  who 
acknowledge  the  obligations  of  Christianity,  to  use  such  means  as  are 
in  their  power  to  extend  the  blessings  of  freedom  to  every  part  of  the 
human  race ;  and  in  a  more  particular  manner  to  such  of  their  fellow- 
creatures  as  are  entitled  to  freedom  by  the  laws  and  constitutions  of 


46  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

The  society  entered  with  zeal  upon  its  mission,  circu 
lating  its  documents,  and  opening  a  correspondence  with 
eminent  men  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe.* 

any  of  the  United  States,  and  who,  notwithstanding,  are  detained  in 
bondage  by  fraud  or  violence.  JFrom  a  full  conviction  of  the  truth  and 
obligation  of  these  principles;  from  a  desire  to  diffuse  them  wherever 
the  miseries  and  vices  of  slavery  exist,  and  in  humble  confidence  of  the 
favor  and  support  of  the  Father  of  mankind,  the  subscribers  have  as 
sociated  themselves,  under  the  title  of  'The  Pennsylvania  Society  for 
promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  and  the  Relief  of  Free  Negroes 
unlawfully  held  in  Bondage,  and  for  improving  the  condition  of  the 
African  race."5  Needles's  Memoir,  p.  30. 

*The  secretaries  were  directed  to  have  one  thousand  copies  of  the 
Constitution  printed,  together  with  the  names  of  the  officers  of  the 
society,  and  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  for  the  gradual 
abolition  of  slavery.  They  were  also  to  prepare  letters  to  be  sent  to 
each  of  the  Governors  of  the  United  States,  with  a  copy  of  the  Consti 
tution  and  laws,  and  a  copy  of  Clarkson's  essay  on  "The  Commerce 
and  Slavery  of  the  Africans."  They  were  also  directed  to  write  letters 
to  the  Society  in  New  York,  to  Thomas  Clarkson  and  Dr.  Price  of 
London,  and  to  the  Abbe  Raynall,  in  France.  Needles's  Memoir, 
p.  30. 

Dr.  Franklin  drew  up  a  "  Plan  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Free  Blacks."  It  embraced  :  First,  a  Committee  of  Inspection,  who 
shall  superintend  the  morals,  general  conduct,  and  ordinary  situation  of 
the  free  negroes,  and  afford  them  advice  and  instruction,  protection 
from  wrongs,  and  other  friendly  offices.  Second,  a  Committee  of 
Guardians,  who  shall  place  out  children  and  young  people  with  suitable 
persons,  that  they  may,  during  a  moderate  time  of  apprenticeship  or 
servitude,  learn  some  trade,  or  other  business  of  subsistence.  Third, 
a  Committee  of  Education,  who  shall  superintend  the  school  instruction, 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1 800.  47 

The  New  York  "  Society  for  Promoting  the  Manu 
mission  of  Slaves  "  was  organized  January  25,  1785, 
and  John  Jay  was  the  first  president.  On  being  ap- 

of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  free  blacks.  Fourth,  a  Committee 
of  Employ,  who  shall  endeavor  to  procure  constant  employment  for 
those  free  negroes  who  are  able  to  work,  as  the  want  of  this  would 
occasion  poverty,  idleness,  and  many  vicious  habits.  The  entire  plan 
may  be  seen  in  Dr.  Franklin's  Works,  ii,  pp.  513,  514.  Immediately 
following,  in  the  same  volume,  is  "An  Address  to  the  Public."  from 
the  Pennsylvania  Society,  also  written  by  Dr.  Franklin,  in  aid  of  rais 
ing  funds  for  carrying  out  the  purposes  of  the  society. 

M.  Brissot  de  Warville,  who  visited  the  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
Societies  in  1788,  says  :  "  It  is  certainly  a  misfortune  that  such  societies 
do  not  exist  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  for  it  is  to  the  persevering  zeal 
of  those  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  that  we  owe  the  progress  of 
this  [anti-slavery]  revolution  in  America,  and  the  formation  of  the  So 
ciety  in  London."  He  speaks  of  the  impressions  he  received  in  attend 
ing  the  meetings  of  these  societies.  "  What  serenity  in  the  counte 
nances  of  the  members!  What  simplicity  in  their  discourses;  candor 
in  their  discussions;  beneficence  and  energy  in  their  decisions!  With 
what  joy  they  learned  that  a  like  Society  was  formed  in  Paris !  They 
hastened  to  publish  it  in  their  gazettes,  and  likewise  a  translation  of  the 
first  discourse  [his  own]  pronounced  in  that  society.  These  beneficent 
societies  are  at  present  contemplating  new  projects  for  the  completion 
of  their  work  of  justice  and  humanity.  They  are  endeavoring  to  form 
similar  institutions  in  other  states,  and  have  succeeded  in  the  state  of 
Delaware.  The  business  of  these  societies  is  not  only  to  extend  light 
and  information  to  legislatures  and  to  the  people  at  large,  and  to  form 
the  blacks  by  early  instruction  in  the  duties  of  citizens;  but  they  ex 
tend  gratuitous  protection  to  them  in  all  cases  of  individual  oppression, 
and  make  it  their  duty  to  watch  over  the  execution  of  the  laws,  which 


48  A 'nti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

pointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  he  resigned, 
and  Alexander  Hamilton  was  appointed  to  his  place. 
This  society  circulated  gratuitously  Dr.  Samuel  Hop 
kins^  Dialogue  on  Slavery,  and  Address  to  Slaveholders, 
and  other  documents.  In  1787,  the  Society  offered  a 

have  been  obtained  in  their  favor.  Mr.  Myers  Fisher,  one  of  the  first 
lawyers  of  Philadelphia,  is  always  ready  to  lend  them  his  assistance, 
which  he  generally  does  with  success,  and  always  without  reward. 
These  societies  have  committees  in  different  parts  of  the  country  to 
take  notice  of  any  infractions  of  these  laws  of  liberty,  and  to  propose 
to  the  legislature  such  amendments  as  experience  may  require" — pp. 
291-294, 

In  an  appendix,  written  in  1791,  he  says:  "  My  wishes  have  not 
been  disappointed.  The  progress  of  these  societies  is  rapid  in  the 
United  States;  there  is  one  already  formed  even  in  Virginia."  His 
English  translator  adds,  that  there  has  also  one  been  formed  in  the 
state  of  Connecticut. 

In  Needles'  Memoir  are  the  names  of  the  following  persons  who 
were  officers,  and  served  on  committees,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society 
before  the  year  1800:  John  Baldwin,  Samuel  Davis,  Thomas  Harrison, 
Anthony  Benezet,  Thomas  Meredith,  John  Todd,  James  Starr,  Samuel 
Richards,  James  Whiteall,  Wm.  Lippencott,  John  Thomas,  Benjamin 
Horner,  John  Evans,  Lambert  Wilmore,  Edward  Brooks,  Thomas 
Armit,  John  Warner,  Daniel  Sidrick,  Thomas  Barton,  Robert  Evans 
Benj.  Miers,  Robert  Wood,  John  Eldridge,  Jonathan  Penrose,  Wm., 
Lewis,  Francis  Baily,  Norris  Jones,  Tench  Cox,  Wm.  Jackson,  Benj. 
Rush,  Benj.  Franklin,  James  Pemberton,  John  D.  Cox,  Wm.  Rawle, 
Miers  Fisher,  Temple  Franklin,  John  Andrews,  Richard  Peters, 
Thomas  Paine,  Caleb  Lownes,  S.  P.  Griffiths,  John  Olden,  John 
Todd,  Jr.,  John  Kaighn,  Wm.  Rogers,  Benj.  Say,  Thomas  Parker, 
Robert  Wain,  Samuel  Pancoast,  Thomas  Savery,  Robert  Taggert, 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  49 

gold  medal  for  the  best  discourse,  at  the  public  com 
mencement  of  Columbia  College,  on  the  injustice  and 
cruelty  of  the  slave-trade,  and  the  fatal  effects  of 
slavery.  The  London  Society  was  organized  July  17, 
1787;  the  Paris  Society  in  February,  1788;*  and  the 
Delaware  Society  the  same  year.f  The  Maryland 

John  Poultney,  Wm.  Zane,  Joseph  Moore,  Joseph  Budd,  Wm.  Mclll- 
henny,  Samuel  Baker,  Jonathan  Willis,  Richard  Jones,  Ellis  Yarnall, 
Thomas  Arnott,  Philip  Benezet,  Samuel  Emlen,  Jr.,  Jacob  Shoemaker, 
Jr.,  Richard  Wells,  Bart.  Wistar,  R.  Wells,  J.  McCrea,  Nathan  Boys, 
J.  Proctor,  Robert  Patterson,  Walter  Franklin,  Edward  Farris,  John 
Ely,  Samuel  M.  Fox,  Sallows  Shewell.  John  Woodside,  Wm.  Garrum, 
Thomas  Ross,  Joseph  Sharpless,  Joseph  Cruikshanks,  G.  Williams, 
Wm.  Webb,  Geo.  Williams,  David  Thomas,  Samuel  Bettle,  Edward 
Garrigues. 

*At  the  end  of  M.  Brissot  de  Warville's  oration  at  Paris,  February  19, 
1788,  on  the  necessity  of  establishing  such  a  society,  is  a  note,  which 
states  that,  after  the  Paris  Society  had  been  formed,  "  in  the  space  of 
six  weeks,  ninety  others,  distinguished  for  their  nobility,  for  their 
offices,  and  as  men  of  letters,  have  made  application  to  be  admitted 
into  the  Society.  The  Marquis  de  la  Fayette  is  one  of  the  founders  of 
this  Society,  and  he  gives  it  a  support,  so  much  the  more  laudable,  as 
the  Society  of  Paris  has  many  great  difficulties  to  encounter,  which  are 
unknown  to  the  societies  in  London  and  America." 

fM.  Brissot,  writing  in  September,  1788,  speaks  of  the  Delaware 
Society  as  then  existing.  Warner  Mifflin  was  its  most  enterprising 
member.  M.  Brissot  says  of  him  :  "  One  of  the  most  ardent  petition 
ers  to  Congress  in  this  cause  was  the  respectable  Warner  Mifflin.  His 
zeal  was  rewarded  with  atrocious  calumnies,  which  he  always  answered 
with  mildness,  forgiveness,  and  argument " — p.  300.  A  pertion  which 


50  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

Society  was  formed  September  8,  1789,*  and  the  same 
year  the  Rhode  Island  Society  was  organized  in  the 
house  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  at  Newport.  In  1790,  the 
Connecticut  Society  was  formed,  of  which  Dr.  Ezra 
Stiles,  President  of  Yale  College,  and  Judge  Simeon 

Mr.  Mifflin  made  to  Congress  in  November,  1792,  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  was,  by  vote  of  the  House,  returned  to  him  by  the  clerk. 
Annals  of  Congress,  iii,  p.  71.  On  March  23,  1790,  the  following 
resolution  on  the  subject  of  emancipation,  after  discussion  in  committee 
of  the  whole  House,  was  adopted :  "  That  Congress  have  no  authority 
to  interfere  in  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  or  in  the  treatment  of  them 
in  any  of  the  States,  it  remaining  with  the  several  States  alone  to  pro 
vide  any  regulations  therein  which  humanity  and  true  policy  may 
require."  Annals,  i,  p.  1523. 

* Constitution  of  the  Maryland  Society  for  promoting  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery,  and  the  Relief  of  Free  Negroes  and  others  unlawfully  held  in 
Bondage. 

The  present  attention  of  Europe  and  America  to  slavery,  seems 
to  constitute  that  crisis  in  the  minds  of  men,  when  the  united  en 
deavors  of  a  few  may  greatly  influence  the  public  opinion,  and  pro 
duce,  from  the  transient  sentiment  of  the  times,  effects,  extensive, 
lasting,  and  useful. 

The  common  Father  of  mankind  created  all  men  free  and  equal; 
and  his  great  command  is,  that  we  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves — 
doing  unto  all  men  as  we  would  they  should  do  unto  us.  The  human 
race,  however  varied  in  color  or  intellects,  are  all  justly  entitled  to  lib 
erty  ;  and  it  is  the  duty  and  the  interest  of  nations  and  individuals, 
enjoying  every  blessing  of  freedom,  to  remove  this  dishonor  of  the 
Christian  character  from  amongst  them.  From  the  fullest  impression  of 
the  truth  of  these  principles;  from  an  earnest  wish  to  bear  our  testi 
mony  against  slavery  in  all  its  forms,  to  spread  it  abroad  as  far  as  the 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


Baldwin,  were  the  president  and  secretary.  The  Vir 
ginia  Society  was  formed  in  1791;  and  the  New  Jersey 
Society  in  1792. 

sphere  of  our  influence  may  extend,  and  to  afford  our  friendly  assist 
ance  to  those  who  may  be  engaged  in  the  same  undertaking;  and  in  the 
humblest  hope  of  support  from  that  Being,  who  takes,  as  an  offering  to 
himself,  what  we  do  for  each  other — 

We,  the  subscribers,  have  formed  ourselves  into  the  "  MARYLAND 
SOCIETY  for  promoting  the  ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY,  and  the  RELIEF  OF 
FREE  NEGROES  and  OTHERS  unlawfully  held  in  bondage." 

THE    CONSTITUTION. 

I.  The  officers  of  the  Society  are  a  president,  vice-president,  sec 
retary,  treasurer,  four  counselors,  an  electing-committee  of 
twelve,  an  acting-committee  of  six  members.  All  these,  except 
the  acting-committee,  shall  be  chosen  annually  by  ballot,  on  the 
first  seventh-day,  called  Saturday,  in  the  month  called  January. 
II.  The  president,  and  in  his  absence  the  vice-president,  shall  sub 
scribe  all  the  public  acts  of  the  Society. 

III.  The  president,  and  in  his  absence,  the  vice-president,  shall  more 
over  have  the  power  of  calling  a  special  meeting  of  the  Society 
whenever  he  shall  judge  proper,  or  six  members  require  it. 

IV.  The  secretary  shall  keep  fair  records  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Society  ;  he  shall  also  conduct  the  correspondence  of  the  Soci 
ety,  with  a  committee  of  three  appointed  by  the  president;  and 
all  letters  on  the  business  of  the  Society  are  to  be  addressed  to 
him. 

V.  Corresponding  members  shall  be  appointed  by  the  electing-com 
mittee.  Their  duty  shall  be  to  communicate  to  the  secretary 
and  his  assistants  any  information,  that  may  promote  the  pur 
poses  of  this  institution,  which  shall  be  transferred  by  him  to 
the  acting-committee. 


52  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

The  principal  officers  of  these  societies  were  not 
fanatics  ;  they  were  most  eminent  men  in  the  land — 
judges  of  the  courts,  members  of  the  Constitutional 

VI.  The  treasurer  shall  pay  all  orders  drawn  by  the  president,  or 
vice-president ;  which  orders  shall  be  his  vouchers  for  his  ex 
penditures.  He  shall,  before  he  enters  on  his  office,  give  a  bond 
of  not  less  than  zoo/,  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duty. 
VII.  The  duty  of  the  councilors  shall  be  to  explain  the  laws  and 
constitutions  of  the  States,  which  relate  to  the  emancipation  of 
slaves ;  and  to  urge  their  claims  to  freedom,  when  legal,  before 
such  persons  or  courts  as  are  authorized  to  decide  upon  them. 
VIII.  The  electing-committee  shall  have  sole  power  of  admitting  new 
members.  Two-thirds  of  them  shall  be  a  quorum  for  this  pur 
pose  ;  and  the  concurrence  of  a  majority  of  them  by  ballot, 
when  met,  shall  be  necessary  for  the  admission  of  a  member. 
No  member  shall  be  admitted  who  has  not  been  proposed  at  a 
general  meeting  of  the  Society  ;  nor  shall  an  election  of  a  mem 
ber  take  place  in  less  than  a  month  after  the  time  of  his  being 
proposed.  Foreigners,  or  other  persons,  who  do  not  reside  in 
this  State,  may  be  elected  corresponding  members  of  the  So 
ciety  without  being  subject  to  an  annual  payment,  and  shall  be 
admitted  to  the  meetings  of  the  Society  during  their  residence 
in  the  State. 

IX.  The  acting-committee  shall  transact  the  business  of  the  Society 
in  its  recess,  and  report  the  same  at  each  quarterly  meeting. 
They  shall  have  a  right,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  president 
or  vice-president,  to  draw  upon  the  treasurer  for  such  sums  ot 
money  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  on  the  business  of  their  ap 
pointment.  Four  of  them  shall  be  a  quorum.  After  their  first 
election,  at  each  succeeding  quarterly  meeting,  there  shall  be  an 
election  for  two  of  their  number. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  53 

Convention  and  of  the  Continental  and  United  States 
Congress. 

It   is   to   be  observed  that  there  was  no  anti-slavery 

X.  Every  member,  upon  his  admission,  shall  subscribe  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  Society,  and  contribute  ten  shillings  annually,  in 
quarterly  payments,  towards  defraying  its  contingent  expenses. 
If  he  neglect  to  pay  the  same  for  more  than  six  months,  he 
shall,  upon  due  notice  being  given  him,  cease  to  be  a  member. 
XI.  The  Society  shall  meet  on  the  first  seventh-day,  called  Saturday, 
in  the  months  called  January,  April,  July,  and  October,  at  such 
time  and  place  as  shall  be  agreed  to  by  a  majority  of  the  So 
ciety. 

XII.  No  person,  holding  a  slave  as  his  property,  shall  be  admitted  a 
member  of  this  Society;  nevertheless,  the  Society  may  appoint 
persons  of  legal  knowledge,  owners  of  slaves,  as  honorary- 
counselors. 

XIII.  When  an  alteration  in  the  Constitution  is  thought  necessary,  it 
shall  be  proposed  at  a  previous  meeting,  before  it  shall  take 
place.  All  questions  shall  be  decided,  where  there  is  a  division, 
by  a  majority  of  votes.  In  those  cases  where  the  Society  is 
equally  divided,  the  presiding  officer  shall  have  a  casting  vote. 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

President — PHILIP  ROGERS. 
f^ice- President — JAMES  CAREY. 
Secretary — JOSEPH  TOWNSEND. 
Treasurer — DAVID  BROWN. 

Counselors — ZEBULON  HOLLINGSWORTH,  ARCHIBALD  ROBINSON. 
Honorary- Counselors — SAMUEL  CHASE,  LUTHER  MARTIN. 
Electing- Committee — JAMES  OGLEBY,  ISAAC  GREIST,  GEO.  MATTHEWS, 
GEORGE  PRESSTMAN,  HENRY  WILSON,  JOHN   BANKSON,  ADAM  FONER- 


54  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

society  in  Massachusetts,  which  enjoys  the  reputation 
of  originating  all  the  radicalism  of  the  land.*  Slavery 
had  come  to  an  end  there,  about  the  year  1780;  but 
when,  or  how,  nobody  is  able  to  say  definitely.  Some 
even  say  that  it  was  abolished  there  in  1776,  by  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  declaring  that  "  all  men 
are  created  equal."  Others  claim  that,  substantially 
the  same  clause,  "  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal," 
incorporated  into  the  declaration  of  rights  in  the  State 
Constitution  of  1780,  abolished  slavery.  There  was 
no  action  of  the  State  Legislature  on  the  subject,  and 
no  proclamation  by  the  governor  ;  yet  it  was  as  well 
settled  in  1783,  that  there  was  no  slavery  in  Massachu 
setts,  as  it  is  to-day.  This  came  about  by  a  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court  that  there  was  no  slavery  in  the 
State,  it  being  incompatible  with  the  declaration  of  rights. 
"  How,  or  by  what  act  particularly,"  says  Chief  Justice 
Shaw,  "  slavery  was  abolished  in  Massachusetts,  whether 
by  the  adoption  of  the  opinion  in  Somerset's  case  as  a 

DEN,  JAMES  EICHELBERGER,  WILLIAM  HAWKINS,  WILLIAM  WILSON, 
THOMAS  DICKSON,  GER.  HOPKINS. 

Acting- Committee — JOHN  BROWN,  ELISHA  TYSON,  JAMES  M'CANNON, 
ELIAS  ELLICOTT,  WILLIAM  TRIMBLE,  GEORGE  DENT. 

September  8,  1789. 

*Of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  incorporators  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Society,  one  hundred  and  seventeen  were  from  Rhode  Island, 
sixty-eight  from  Massachusetts,  three  from  Connecticut,  and  one  from 
Vermont.  The  Nation,  Nov.  28,  1872. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 


declaration  and  modification  of  the  common  law,  or  by 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  or  by  the  constitu 
tion  of  1780,  it  is  not  now  very  easy  to  determine  ;  it 
is  rather  a  matter  of  curiosity  than  utility,  it  being 
agreed  on  all  hands  that,  if  not  abolished  before,  it 
was  by  the  declaration  of  rights."  18  Pickering,  209.* 

*St.  George  Tucker,  an  eminent  jurist,  and  Professor  of  Law  at  the 
College  of  William  and  Mary,  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  January  24, 
1795,  addressed  a  letter  to  Dr.  Jeremy  Belknap,  of  Boston,  inquiring 
into  the  condition  of  the  negroes  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  circum 
stances  under  which  slavery  had  come  to  an  end  in  that  state.  His 
object  was  to  obtain  facts  which  he  could  use  in  removing  prejudice 
against  general  emancipation  in  Virginia.  "The  introduction  of 
slavery  into  this  country,"  he  says,  "is  at  this  day  considered  among  its 
greatest  misfortunes.  I  have  cherished  a  hope  that  we  may,  from  the 
example  of  our  sister  State,  learn  what  methods  are  most  likely  to  suc 
ceed  in  removing  the  same  evils  from  among  ourselves.  With  this 
view,  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  enclose  a  few  queries,  which,  if  your 
leisure  will  permit  you  to  answer,  you  will  confer  on  me  a  favor  which 
I  shall  always  consider  as  an  obligation."  He  propounded  eleven 
queries,  to  which  Dr.  Belknap  replied  at  length.  The  correspond 
ence  is  printed  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  selections,  iv, 
pp.  191-211.  The  next  year  Judge  Tucker  printed,  at  Philadelphia, 
his  "  Dissertation  on  Slavery,  with  a  proposal  for  the  gradual  abolition 
of  it  in  Virginia,"  Dr.  Belknap's  replies  to  Judge  Tucker's  inquiries 
have  much  historical  interest.  To  the  fifth  query,  "  The  mode  by 
which  slavery  hath  been  abolished  ?  "  he  says  :  "  The  general  answer 
is,  that  slavery  hath  been  abolished  here  by  public  opinion,  which  began 
to  be  established  about  thirty  years  ago.  At  the  beginning  of  our  con 
troversy  with  Great  Britain,  several  persons,  who  before  had  enter 
tained  sentiments  opposed  to  the  slavery  of  the  blacks,  did  then  take 


56  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

Mr.  Sumner  asserted,  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate, 
June  28,  1854,  that  "in  all  her  annals,  no  person  was 
ever  born  a  slave  on  the  soil  of  Massachusetts."  Mr. 
Palfrey,  in  his  History  of  New  England,*  says:  "  In 
fact,  no  person  was  ever  born  into  legal  slavery  in 
Massachusetts  ;  "  and  Prof.  Emory  Washburn,  in  his 
Lecture,  January  22,  1869,  on  cc  Slavery  as  it  once  pre 
vailed  in  Massachusetts,"-)-  says  :  cc  Nor  does  the  fact 
that  they  were  held  as  slaves,  where  the  question  as  to 
their  being  such  was  never  raised,  militate  with  the 

occasion  publicly  to  remonstrate  against  the  inconsistency  of  contend 
ing  for  their  own  liberty,  and,  at  the  same  time,  depriving  other  people 
of  theirs.  Pamphlets  and  newspaper  essays  appeared  on  the  subject  ; 
it  often  entered  into  the  conversation  of  reflecting  people  ;  and  many 
who  had,  without  remorse,  been  the  purchasers  of  slaves,  condemned 
themselves,  and  retracted  their  former  opinion.  The  Quakers  were 
zealous  against  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  ;  and  by  their  means  the 
writings  of  Anthony  Benezet  of  Philadelphia,  John  Woolman  of  New 
Jersey,  and  others  were  spread  through  the  country.  Nathaniel  Apple- 
ton  and  James  Swan,  merchants  of  Boston,  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  of 
Philadelphia,  distinguished  themselves  as  writers  on  the  side  of  liberty. 
Those  on  the  other  side  generally  concealed  their  names  ;  but  their 
arguments  were  not  suffered  to  rest  long  without  an  answer.  The 
controversy  began  about  the  year  1766,  and  was  renewed  at  various 
times  till  1773,  when  it  was  warmly  agitated,  and  became  a  subject  of 
forensic  disputation  at  the  public  commencement  at  Harvard  College." 
p.  201. 


,  p.  30. 

f  Lectures  by   Members    of    the   Mass.    Historical   Society   on   the 
Early  History  of  Massachusetts,  p.  216. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  57 

position  already  stated — that  no  child  was  ever  born 
into  lawful  bondage  in  Massachusetts,  from  the  year 
1641  to  the  present  hour." 

These  statements,  in  substance  the  same,  seem  like 
a  technical  evasion.  Thousands  were  born  into  actual 
slavery — whether  it  were  legal  or  not  was  poor  consola 
tion  to  the  slave — lived  as  slaves,  were  sold  as  slaves, 
and  died  as  slaves  in  Massachusetts.  They  never  knew 
they  were  freemen.  The  number  of  slaves  in  Massa 
chusetts  in  1776  was  5,249,  about  half  of  whom  were 
owned  in  Boston,  which  had  then  a  population  of 
17,500.  The  proportion  of  slaves  to  the  whole  popu 
lation  of  Boston  in  1776,  was  six  times  as  great  as  the 
number  of  colored  persons  in  Cincinnati  to-day  is  to 
the  whole  population,  and  ten  times  as  great  as  the  pres 
ent  proportion  of  colored  persons  in  Boston.* 

The  same  declaration,  that  <£  all  men  are  created 
equally  free  and  independent/'  is  found  in  the  consti 
tutions  of  New  Hampshire  and  Virginia;  but  it  did 

*Mr.  George  H.  Moore,  in  his  elaborate  work,  "  Notes  on  the  His 
tory  of  Slavery  in  Massachusetts,"  expresses  a  doubt  whether  slavery 
legally  came  to  an  end  in  Massachusetts  at  the  period  stated  above; 
and  perhaps  not  before  the  adoption  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  to 
the  Constitution.  He  says  :  "  It  would  not  be  the  least  remarkable  of 
the  circumstances  connected  with  this  strange  and  eventful  history,  that 
though  virtually  abolished  before,  the  actual  prohibition  of  slavery  in 
Massachusetts,  as  well  as  Kentucky,  should  be  accomplished  by  the 
votes  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia."  p.  242. 


58  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

not  in  these  states  receive  the  same  construction  as  in 
Massachusetts.  In  New  Hampshire  it  was  construed 
to  mean  that  all  persons  born  after  1784 — the  date  of 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution — were  equally  free 
and  independent.  In  other  words,  it  brought  about 
gradual  emancipation.  In  Virginia,  it  was  simply  a 
glittering  generality — it  had  no  legal  meaning.* 

In  addition  to  the  State  Societies  already  named, 
there  were  several  local  societies  in  Virginia,  Maryland, 
and  Pennsylvania.  All  the  abolition  societies  in  the 
country  were  in  correspondence  and  acted  together.  At 
the  suggestion  of  the  New  York  Society,  a  convention 
of  delegates  was  called  for  the  purpose  of  deliberating 
on  the  means  of  attaining  their  common  object,  and  of 
uniting  in  a  memorial  to  Congress.  Delegates  from 
ten  of  these  societies,  including  the  Virginia,  Maryland, 

*Dr.  Belknap  says  the  clause  "  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal  "  was 
inserted  in  the  Declaration  of  Rights  of  Massachusetts  '•  not  merely  as 
a  moral  and  political  truth,  but  wich  a  particular  view  to  establish  the 
liberation  of  the  negroes  on  a  general  principle,  and  so  it  was  under 
stood  by  the  people  at  large ;  but  some  doubted  whether  it  was  suf 
ficient  " — p.  203.  That  some  persons  had  this  result  in  view  is 
probable ;  but  contemporaneous  records  and  acts  of  the  citizens  do  not 
justify  the  statement  that  "  so  it  was  understood  by  the  people  at 
large."  Dr.  Belknap  was  living  in  New  Hampshire  at  the  time,  and 
did  not  come  to  Boston  till  1786.  The  construction  put  upon  the 
clause,  by  the  Supreme  Court,  was  evidently  a  happy  afterthought;  and 
was  inspired  by  that  public  opinion  to  which  Dr.  Belknap  himself,  in 
his  reply  to  Judge  Tucker,  ascribes  the  extinction  of  slavery. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  50 

Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Con 
necticut,  and  Rhode  Island  State  Societies,  and  two 
local  societies  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  met 
on  the  first  day  of  January,  1794,  at  the  Select  Council 
Chamber  in  Philadelphia,*  and  drew  up  a  joint  memo 
rial  to  Congress,  asking  for  a  law  making  the  use  of 
vessels  and  men  in  the  slave  trade  a  penal  offense. 
Such  a  law  was  passed  by  Congress  without  debate.f 
These  societies  held  annual  conventions  for  many  years. 
The  convention  recommended  that  such  meetings  of 

o 

*The  Pennsylvania:!  Society  assumed  all  the  expenses  of  the  Con 
vention,  of  entertaining  the  delegates,  and  of  printing  the  proceedings. 
The  delegates  of  the  Pennsylvanian  Society  were  William  Rogers, 
Samuel  P.  Griffiths,  Samuel  Coats,  William  Rawle,  Robert  Patterson, 
and  Benjamin  Rush.  The  printed  proceedings  of  this  convention, 
which  is  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society's  library,  I  have  not  had 
access  to.  Joseph  Bloomfield,  of  New  Jersey,  an  officer  of  the  Revo 
lution,  attorney-general,  governor  of  the  state  from  1801-12,  and 
member  of  Congress  from  1817-21,  was  president  of  the  Conven 
tion. 

-j-The  memorial  was  presented  in  both  branches  of  Congress,  January 
28,  1794.  The  record  in  the  House  was  as  follows:  "A  memorial 
from  the  several  societies  formed  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States, 
for  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery,  in  convention  assembled  at 
Philadelphia,  on  the  first  instant,  was  presented  to  the  House  and  read, 
praying  that  Congress  may  adopt  such  measures  as  may  be  the  most 
effectual  and  expedient  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  Also,  a 
memorial  of  the  Providence  Society,  for  abolishing  the  slave-trade,  to 
the  same  effect.  Ordered,  That  the  said  memorials  be  referred  to  Mr. 
Trumbull  [of  Connecticut],  Mr.  Ward  [of  Massachusetts],  Mr.  Giles 


60  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

delegates  be  annually  convened  ;  that  annual  or  periodi 
cal  discourses  or  orations  be  delivered  in  public  on 
slavery  and  the  means  of  its  abolition,  in  order  that, 
cc  by  the  frequent  application  of  the  force  of  reason  and 
the  persuasive  power  of  eloquence,  slaveholders  and 
their  abettors  may  be  awakened  to  a  sense  of  their  in 
justice,  and  be  startled  with  horror  at  the  enormity  of 
their  conduct." 

The  convention  also  adopted  an  address  cc  To  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States,"  which  was  drawn  up  by 
Dr.  Benjamin  Rush.* 

[of  Virginia],  Mr.  Talbot  [of  New  York],  and  Mr.  Grove  [of  North 
Carolina]  ;  that  they  do  examine  the  matter  thereof,  and  report  the 
same,  with  their  opinion  thereupon,  to  the  House."  Annals  of  Con 
gress,  iv,  p.  349. 

A  bill  was  reported  in  conformity  to  the  wishes  of  the  memorialists, 
passed  its  several  stages  without  debate,  and  was  approved  March  22, 
1794.  For  the  bill,  see  Id.,  p.  1426. 

*The  address  is  as  follows  : 
"  To  the  Citizens  of  the  United  States : 

"  The  Address  of  the  Delegates  from  the  several  Societies  formed  in 
different  parts  of  the  United  States,  for  promoting  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery,  in  convention  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  1794. 

"FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  United  to  you  by  the  ties  of  citi 
zenship,  and  partakers  with  you  in  the  blessings  of  a  free  government, 
we  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  you  upon  a  subject  highly  interesting 
to  the  credit  and  prosperity  of  the  United  States. 

"  It  is  the  glory  of  our  country  to  have  originated  a  system  of  opposi 
tion  to  the  commerce  in  that  part  of  our  fellow-creatures  who  compose 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  61 

Similar  societies  were  formed  in  London  and  Paris, 
with  whom  these  societies  were  in  constant  correspond 
ence.  Pennsylvania  passed  an  act  of  gradual  emanci 
pation  in  1780,  and  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  in 
1784.  A  similar  act,  making  all  children  born  there 
after  free,  did  not  pass  the  Legislature  of  New  York  till 
1799.  In  the  meantime  these  societies  were  pouring  in 
their  memorials  to  State  Legislatures  and  Congress, 
holding  meetings,  distributing  documents,  and  rousing 
public  sentiment  to  the  enormities  of  the  slave  system. 

The  Connecticut   petitioners    say :    "  From   a  sober 

the  nations  of  Africa.  Much  has  been  done  by  the  citizens  of  some 
of  the  States  to  abolish  this  disgraceful  traffic,  and  to  improve  the  con 
dition  of  those  unhappy  people  whom  the  ignorance,  or  the  avarice  of 
our  ancestors  had  bequeathed  to  us  as  slaves.  But  the  evil  still  con 
tinues,  and  our  country  is  yet  disgraced  by  laws  and  practices  which 
level  the  creature  man  with  a  part  of  the  brute  creation.  Many 
reasons  concur  in  persuading  us  to  abolish  domestic  slavery  in  our 
country.  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  the  liberties  of  the 
United  States.  Freedom  and  slavery  can  not  long  exist  together.  An 
unlimited  power  over  the  time,  labor,  and  posterity  of  our  fellow- 
creatures,  necessarily  unfits  man  for  discharging  the  public  and  private 
duties  of  citizens  of  a  republic.  It  is  inconsistent  with  sound  policy, 
in  exposing  the  States  which  permit  it,  to  all  those  evils  which  insur 
rections  and  the  most  resentful  war  have  introduced  into  one  of  the 
richest  islands  in  the  West  Indies.  It  is  unfriendly  to  the  present  ex 
ertions  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  in  favor  of  liberty.  What  people 
will  advocate  freedom,  with  a  zeal  proportioned  to  its  blessings,  while 
they  view  the  purest  republic  in  the  world  tolerating  in  its  bosom  a 
body  of  slaves  ?  In  vain  has  the  tyranny  of  kings  been  rejected,  while 


62  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

conviction  of  the  unrighteousness  of  slavery,  your  peti 
tioners  have  long  beheld  with  grief  our  fellow-men 
doomed  to  perpetual  bondage  in  a  country  which  boasts 
of  her  freedom.  Your  petitioners  are  fully  of  opinion 
that  calm  reflection  will  at  last  convince  the  world  that 
the  whole  system  of  American  slavery  is  unjust  in  its 
nature,  impolitic  in  its  principles,  and  in  its  consequen 
ces  ruinous  to  the  industry  and  enterprise  of  the  citizens 
of  these  states." 

we  permit  in  our  country  a  domestic  despotism  which  involves  in  its 
nature  most  of  the  vices  and  miseries  that  we  have  endeavored  to  avoid. 
It  is  degrading  to  our  rank  as  men  in  the  scale  of  being.  Let  us  use 
our  reason  and  social  affections  for  the  purposes  for  which  they  were 
given,  or  cease  to  boast  a  pre-eminence  over  animals  that  are  unpolluted 
by  our  crimes. 

"  But  higher  motives  to  justice  and  humanity  towards  our  fellow- 
creatures,  remain  yet  to  be  mentioned.  Domestic  slavery  is  repugnant 
to  the  principles  of  Christianity.  It  prostrates  every  benevolent  and 
just  principle  of  action  in  the  human  heart.  It  is  rebellion  against  the 
authority  of  a  common  Father.  It  is  a  practical  denial  of  the  extent 
and  efficacy  of  the  death  of  a  common  Saviour.  It  is  an  usurpation  of 
the  prerogative  of  the  Great  Sovereign  of  the  universe,  who  has  solemnly 
claimed  an  exclusive  property  in  the  souls  of  men.  But  if  this  view 
of  the  enormity  of  the  evil  of  domestic  slavery  should  not  affect  us, 
there  is  one  consideration  more,  which  ought  to  alarm  and  impress  us, 
especially  at  the  present  juncture.  It  is  a  violation  of  a  Divine  precept 
of  universal  justice,  which  has  in  no  instance  escaped  with  impunity. 
The  crimes  of  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  are  often  designated  in 
their  punishments ;  and  we  conceive  it  to  be  no  forced  construction  of 
some  of  the  calamities  which  now  distress  or  impend  over  our  country, 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  63 

The  Virginia  Society,  petitioning  Congress,  says:~Wc 
"Your  memorialists,  fully  aware  that  righteousness  ex- 
alteth  a  nation,  and  that  slavery  is  not  only  an  odious 
degradation,  but  an  outrageous  violation  of  one  of  the 
most  essential  rights  of  human  nature,  and  utterly  re 
pugnant  to  the  precepts  of  the  gospel,  which  breathes 
'peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men/  lament  that  a 
practice  so  inconsistent  with  true  policy  and  the 
inalienable  rights  of  men  should  subsist  in  so  en 
lightened  an  age,  and  among  a  people  professing 

to  believe  that  they  are  the  measure  of  the  evils  which  we  have  meted 
to  others.  The  ravages  committed  upon  many  of  our  fellow-citizens 
by  the  Indians,  and  the  depredations  upon  the  liberty  and  commerce  of 
others,  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  by  the  Algerines,  both 
unite  in  proclaiming  to  us  in  the  most  forcible  language,  '  to  loose  the 
bands  of  wickedness,  to  break  every  yoke,  to  undo  the  heavy  burthens, 
and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free.' 

"  We  shall  conclude  this  address  by  recommending  to  you: 

"  First.  To  refrain  immediately  from  that  species  of  rapine  and  mur 
der  which  has  improperly  been  softened  by  the  name  of  the  African 
trade.  It  is  Indian  cruelty  and  Algerine  piracy  in  another  form. 

"Second.  To  form  Societies  in  every  State,  for  the  purpose  of  promot 
ing  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  of  domestic  slavery,  for  the  relief 
of  persons  unlawfully  held  in  bondage,  and  for  the  improvement  of  the 
condition  of  Africans  and  their  desendants  amongst  us. 

"  The  Societies  which  we  represent,  have  beheld  with  triumph  the 
success  of  their  exertions  in  many  instances,  in  favor  of  their  African 
brethren;  and,  in  full  reliance  upon  the  continuance  of  Divine  sup 
port  and  direction,  they  humbly  hope  their  labors  will  never  cease  while 
there  exists  a  single  slave  in  the  United  States." 


64  A nti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

that  all  mankind  are,  by  nature,  equally  entitled  to 
freedom." 

The  Pennsylvania  Society  memorialized  Congress 
thus :  cc  The  memorial  respectfully  showeth :  That 
from  a  regard  for  the  happiness  of  mankind,  an  associa 
tion  was  formed  several  years  since  in  this  state,  by  a 
number  of  her  citizens  of  various  religious  denomina 
tions,  for  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  for 
the  relief  of  those  unlawfully  held  in  bondage.  A  just 
and  acute  conception  of  the  true  principles  of  liberty, 
as  it  spread  through  the  land,  produced  accessories  to 
their  numbers,  many  friends  to  their  cause,  and  a  legis 
lative  co-operation  with  their  views,  which,  by  the  bless 
ing  of  Divine  Providence,  have  been  successfully 
directed  to  the  relieving  from  bondage  a  large  number 
of  their  fellow-creatures  of  the  African  race.  They 
have  also  the  satisfaction  to  observe  that  in  consequence 
of  that  spirit  of  philanthropy  and  genuine  liberty, 
which  is  generally  diffusing  its  beneficial  influence, 
similar  institutions  are  forming  at  home  and  abroad. 

<c  That  mankind  are  all  formed  by  the  same  Almighty 
Being,  alike  objects  of  his  care  and  equally  designed 
for  the  enjoyment  of  happiness,  the  Christian  re 
ligion  teaches  us  to  believe,  and  the  political  creed  of 
Americans  fully  coincides  with  the  position. 

"Your  memorialists,  particularly  engaged  in  attend 
ing  to  the  distresses  arising  from  slavery,  believe  it  their 
indispensable  duty  to  present  the  subject  to  your  notice. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  65 

They  have  observed  with  real  satisfaction,  that  many 
important  and  salutary  powers  are  vested  in  you  for 
' promoting  the  welfare  and  securing  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  the  people  of  the  United  States;'  and  as 
they  conceive  that  these  blessings  ought  rightfully  to 
be  administered  without  distinction  of  color  to  all  de 
scriptions  of  people,  so  they  indulge  themselves  in  the 
pleasing  expectation  that  nothing  which  can  be  done 
for  the  relief  of  the  unhappy  objects  of  their  care  will 
be  either  omitted  or  delayed." 

"  From  a  persuasion  that  equal  liberty  was  originally 
the  portion,  and  is  still  the  birthright  of  all  men,  and 
influenced  by  the  strong  ties  of  humanity  and  the  prin 
ciples  of  their  institution,  your  memorialists  conceive 
themselves  bound  to  use  all  justifiable  endeavors  to 
loosen  the  bands  of  slavery,  and  promote  a  general  en 
joyment  of  the  blessings  of  freedom.  Under  these  im 
pressions  they  earnestly  entreat  your  serious  attention  to 
the  subject  of  slavery;  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  coun 
tenance  the  restoration  to  liberty  of  those  unhappy  men, 
who,  alone,  in  this  land  of  freedom,  are  degraded  into 
perpetual  bondage  ;  and  who,  amidst  the  general  joy  of 
surrounding  freemen,  are  groaning  in  servile  subjection  ; 
that  you  will  devise  means  for  removing  this  inconsist 
ency  from  the  character  of  the  American  people ;  and 
that  you  will  step  to  the  very  verge  of  the  power 
vested  in  you  for  discouraging  every  species  of  traffic  in 


66  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

the   persons  of  our  fellow-men."     Annals  of  Congress, 
i,  p.  1239. 

This  memorial  was  drawn  up  and  signed  by  <c  BEN 
JAMIN  FRANKLIN,  President ,  Feb.  3,  1790."  It  was 
the  last  public  act  of  that  eminent  man.  He  died  on 
the  lyth  day  of  the  April  following.  It  will  be  ob 
served  that  the  memorial  strikes  at  slavery  itself,  on 
the  ground  that  the  institution  is  unjust,  and  a  national 
disgrace.  It  was  so  understood  in  Congress,  and  ruffled 
the  equanimity  of  the  representatives  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia.  Mr.  Jackson,  of  Georgia,  distinguished 
himself  in  the  debate  by  an  elaborate  defense  of  the  in 
stitution.  He  was  especially  annoyed  that  Dr.  Frank 
lin's  name  should  be  attached  to  the  memorial,  "a 
man/'  he  said,  "  who  ought  to  have  known  the  consti 
tution  better."" 

*  Mr.  Jackson  opposed  the  reference  of  the  memorial  to  a  commit 
tee,  and  wished  it  to  be  thrown  aside.  Mr.  Burke,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  said  he  saw  the  disposition  of  the  House,  and  feared  the  memorial 
would  be  referred.  He  "  was  certain  the  commitment  would  sound 
an  alarm,  and  blow  the  trumpet  of  sedition  in  the  Southern  States." 

Mr.  Seney,  of  Maryland,  denied  that  there  was  anything  unconsti 
tutional  in  the  memorial  ;  its  only  object  was  that  Congress  should 
exercise  their  constitutional  authority  to  abate  the  horrors  of  slavery 
as  far  as  they  could. 

Mr.  Parker,  of  Virginia,  said  :  "  I  hope  the  petition  of  these  respect 
able  people  will  be  attended  to  with  all  the  readiness  the  importance 
of  its  object  demands  ;  and  I  can  not  help  expressing  the  pleasure  I 
feel  in  rinding  so  considerable  a  part  of  the  community  attending  to 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  67 

Dr.  Franklin,  though  confined  to  his  chamber,  and 
suffering  under  a  most  painful  disease,  could  not  allow 
the  occasion  to  pass  without  indulging  his  humor  at  the 
expense  of  Mr.  Jackson.  He  wrote  to  the  editor  of 
the  Federal  Gazette,  March  23,  1790,  as  follows  :  "  Read- 
matters  of  such  momentous  concern  to  the  future  prosperity  and  hap 
piness  of  the  people  of  America.  I  think  it  my  duty  as  a  citizen  of 
the  Union  to  espouse  their  cause." 

Mr.  Page,  of  Virginia  (governor  from  1802-1805),  said  he  was 
in  favor  of  the  commitment.  He  hoped  that  the  designs  of  the 
respectable  memorialists  would  not  be  stopped  at  the  threshold,  in 
order  to  preclude  a  fair  discussion  of  the  prayer  of  the  memorial. 
With  respect  to  the  alarm  that  was  apprehended,  he  conjectured  there 
was  none;  but  there  might  be  just  cause,  if  the  memorial  was  not 
taken  into  consideration.  He  placed  himself  in  the  case  of  a  slave, 
and  said  that,  on  hearing  that  Congress  had  refused  to  listen  to  the 
decent  suggestions  of  a  respectable  part  of  the  community,  he  should 
infer  that  the  general  government  (from  which  was  expected  great 
good  would  result  to  every  class  of  citizens)  had  shut  their  ears  against 
the  voice  of  humanity  ;  and  he  should  despair  of  any  alleviation  of 
the  miseries  he  and  his  posterity  had  in  prospect.  If  anything  could, 
induce  him  to  rebel,  it  must  be  a  stroke  like  this.  But  if  he  was  told 
that  application  was  made  in  his  behalf,  and  that  Congress  was  willing 
to  hear  what  could  be  urged  in  favor  of  discouraging  the  practice  of 
importing  his  fellow-wretches,  he  would  trust  in  tkair  justice  ahd 
humanity,  and  wait  for  the  decision  patiently.  He  presumed  that  these 
unfortunate  people  would  reason  in  the  same  way. 

Mr.  Madison,  of  Virginia,  said,  if  there  were  the  slighest  tendency 
by  the  commitment  to  break  in  upon  the  constitution,  he  would  object 
to  it ;  but  he  did  not  see  upon  what  ground  such  an  event  could  be  ap 
prehended.  He  admitted  that  Congress  was  restricted  by  the  consti- 


68  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

ing,  last  night,  in  your  excellent  paper,  the  speech  of 
Mr.  Jackson,  in  Congress,  against  their  meddling  with 
the  affair  of  slavery,  or  attempting  to  mend  the  condi 
tion  of  the  slaves,  it  put  me  in  mind  of  a  similar  one 
made  about  one  hundred  years  since  by  Sidi  Mehemet 
Ibrahim,  a  member  of  the  Divan  of  Algiers,  which  may 
be  seen  in  Martin's  Account  of  his  Consulship,  anno 
1687.  It  was  against  granting  the  petition  of  a  sect 
called  Erika>  or  Purists,  who  prayed  for  the  abolition  of 
piracy  and  slavery  as  being  unjust.  Mr.  Jackson  does 
not  quote  it ;  perhaps  he  has  not  seen  it.  If,  therefore, 
some  of  its  reasonings  are  to  be  found  in  his  eloquent 
speech,  it  may  only  show  that  men's  interests  and  intel- 

tution  from  taking  measures  to  abolish  the  slave-trade ;  yet  there  was  a 
variety  of  ways  by  which  it  could  countenance  the  abolition  of  slavery; 
and  regulations  might  be  made  in  relation  to  the  introduction  of  slaves 
into  the  new  States,  to  be  formed  out  of  the  Western  Territory. 

The  memorial  was  committed  by  a  vote  of  43  yeas  to  14  nays.     Of 
the  Virginia  delegation,   8  voted  yea  and  2  nay ;   Maryland,  3  yea,    I 
nay;   Delaware   and   North    Carolina,    both    delegations  absent.       Mr. 
Vining,  the  member  for  Delaware,  however,  spoke  and  voted  later  with 
the  friends  of  the  memorialists. 

The  committee  reported  on  the  8th  of  March.  The  report  was 
discussed  in  committee  of  the  whole,  and  amended  to  read  as  follows  : 

"First.  That  the  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any 
of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  can  not  be  pro 
hibited  by  Congress  prior  to  the  year  1808. 

"Second.  That  Congress  have  no  authority  to  interfere  in  the  eman 
cipation  of  slaves,  or  in  the  treatment  of  them,  in  any  of  the  States — 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  69 

lects  operate,  and  are  operated  on,  with  surprising  simi 
larity,  in  all  countries  and  climates,  whenever  they  are 
under  similar  circumstances.  The  African's  speech,  as 
translated,  is  as  follows."  He  then  goes  on  to  make 
an  ingenious  parody  of  Mr.  Jackson's  speech,  making 
this  African  Mussulman  give  the  same  religious,  and 
other  reasons,  for  not  releasing  the  white  Christian  slaves, 
whom  they  had  captured  by  piracy,  that  Mr.  Jackson 
had  made  for  not  releasing  African  slaves.*  There  were 
inquiries  in  the  libraries  for  cc  Martin's  Account  of  his 
Consulship,"  but  it  was  never  found.  The  paper  may 
be  read  in  the  second  volume  of  Franklin's  Works, 

it  remaining  with  the  several  States  alone,  to  provide  any  regulations 
therein  which  humanity  and  true  policy  may  require. 

"Third.  That  Congress  have  authority  to  restrain  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  from  carrying  on  the  African  trade,  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  foreigners  with  slaves,  and  of  providing,  by  proper  regula 
tions,  for  the  humane  treatment  during  their  passage  of  slaves  imported 
by  the  said  citizens  into  the  States  admitting  such  importation." 

This  was  the  first  legislation  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  new 
Congress,  and  was  carried  by  29  votes  to  25 — North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia  voting  unanimously  in  the  negative.  All  the 
other  States  (except  Rhode  Island,  from  which  no  member  was  present) 
voted  in  the  affirmative  or  divided.  New  Hampshire  voted  I  yea, 
I  nay;  Massachusetts,  6  yeas,  3  nays;  Connecticut,  2  yeas,  2  nays; 
New  York,  5  yeas,  2  nays ;  New  Jersey,  3  yeas;  Pennsylvania,  5  yeas; 
Virginia,  5  yeas,  6  nays ;  Maryland,  I  yea,  4  nays ;  Delaware,  I  yea. 

*At  this  period,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  American  citizens,  captured 
by  piracy,  were  held  as  slaves  in  Algiers,  for  whom  large  ransoms  were 
demanded  by  the  pirates. 


jo  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

Sparks'  edition,  p.  518.  None  of  Dr.  Franklin's  writ 
ings  are  more  felicitous  than  this  jeu  d'  esprit ;  and  it 
was  written  only  twenty-four  days  before  his  death. 

In  the  midst  of  this  period,  when  anti-slavery  opin 
ions  were  so  generally  held  by  leading  statesmen,  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed.  It  is 
due  to  the  framers  of  that  instrument  to  state  that  the 
entire  delegations  from  the  Northern  and  Middle  States, 
and  a  majority  of  those  from  Virginia,  Maryland,  and 
Delaware  were  inspired  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  with 
these  sentiments,  and  would  have  supported  any  prac 
tical  measures  that  would,  in  a  reasonable  time,  have  put 
an  end  to  slavery.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  posi 
tively  refused  to  come  into  the  Union  unless  the  clause, 
denying  to  Congress  the  power  to  prohibit  the  importa 
tion  of  slaves  prior  to  1808,  was  inserted.  The  North 
ern  States  were  not  so  strenuous  in  opposition  to  this 
clause  as  Virginia  and  Maryland.*  State  after  state  was 

*The  convention,  after  discussing  principles,  appointed  a  "committee 
of  detail,"  consisting  of  Mr.  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Randolph 
of  Virginia,  Mr.  Wilson  of  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Ellsworth  of  Connecti 
cut,  and  Mr.  Gorham  of  Massachusetts,  to  reduce  to  the  form  of  a 
constitution  the  resolutions  agreed  upon.  This  committee  without 
instructions,  or  authority  from  the  resolutions  adopted,  introduced  a 
clause  forever  prohibiting  the  abolition  of  the  African  slave-trade. 
Mr.  Randolph  earnestly  protested  against  this  clause.  He  was  opposed 
to  any  restriction  on  the  power  of  Congress  to  abolish  it.  He  "could 
never  agree  to  the  clause  as  it  stands.  He  would  sooner  risk  the  Con 
stitution."  Madison  Papers,  p.  1396.  Mr.  Ellsworth  "was  for  leav- 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  71 

abolishing  the  institution ;  anti-slavery  opinions  were 
becoming  universal ;  and  it  was  generally  supposed  at 
the  North  that  slavery  would  soon  die  out.  The  finan 
cial  and  business  interests  of  the  country  were  prostrated. 
Union  at  any  cost  must  be  had.  The  words  slave 
and  slavery  were  carefully  avoided  in  the  draft,  and  the 
best  terms  possible  were  made  for  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  The  Constitution,  as  finally  adopted,  suited 
nobody ;  and  by  the  narrowest  margins  it  escaped  being 
rejected  in  all  the  States.  The  vote  in  the  Massachu 
setts  Convention  was  187  yeas  to  168  nays;  and  in  the 
Virginia  Convention,  89  yeas  to  78  nays. 

From  this  examination  of  the  subject,  we  see  that  the 
popular  idea,  that  the  political  anti-slavery  agitation 
was  forced  upon  the  South  by  the  North,  and  especially 
by  Massachusetts,  is  not  a  correct  one.  In  the  second 
period  of  excited  controversy,  from  1820  to  1830,  the 

ing  the  clause  as  it  now  stands.  Let  every  State  import  what  it  pleases. 
The  morality,  the  wisdom  of  slavery,  are  considerations  belonging  to 
the  States  themselves.  What  enriches  apart,  enriches  the  whole;  and 
the  States  are  the  best  judges  of  their  particular  interest."  Id.,  p.  1389. 
It  was  moved,  as  a  compromise,  to  guarantee  the  slave-trade  for  twenty 
years,  by  postponing  the  restriction  to  1808.  This  motion  was  sec 
onded  by  Mr.  Gorham,  of  Massachusetts,  and  it  passed.  Mr.  Madison, 
of  Virginia,  opposed  it.  "  Twenty  years,"  he  said,  "  will  produce  all 
the  mischief  that  can  be  apprehended  from  the  liberty  to  import  slaves. 
So  long  a  term  will  be  more  dishonorable  to  the  American  character, 
than  to  say  nothing  about  it  in  the  Constitution."  Id.,  p.  1427.  Mr. 
Mason,  of  Virginia,  pronounced  the  traffic  as  "  infernal."  Id.,  p.  1390. 


72  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

South  again  took  the  lead.  In  1827,  there  were  one 
hundred  and  thirty  abolition  societies  in  the  United 
States.  Of  these  one  hundred  and  six  were  in  the  slave- 
holding  States,  and  only  four  in  New  England  and  New 
York.  Of  these  societies  eight  were  in  Virginia,  eleven 
in  Maryland,  two  in  Delaware,  two  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  eight  in  Kentucky,  twenty-five  in  Tennessee, 
with  a  membership  of  one  thousand,  and  fifty  in  North 
Carolina,  with  a  membership  of  three  thousand  per 
sons.*  Many  of  these  societies  were  the  result  of  the 
personal  labors  of  Benjamin  Lundy. 

The  Southampton  insurrection  of  1830,  and  indica 
tions  of  insurrection  in  North  Carolina  the  same  year, 
swept  away  these  societies  and  their  visible  results.  The 
fifteen  years  from  1830  to  1845  were  the  darkest  period 
the  American  slave  ever  saw.  It  was  the  reign  of  vio 
lence  and  mob  law  at  the  North.  This  was  the  second 
great  reaction.  The  first  commenced  with  the  invention 
of  the  cotton-gin,  by  Eli  Whitney,  in  1793,  and  con 
tinued  till  the  question  of  the  admission  of  Missouri 
came  up  in  1820.  The  third  reaction  was  a  failure;  it 
commenced  in  1861,  and  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of 
the  institution, 

*Life  of  Benjamin  Lundy,  Phil.  1847,  p.  218.  The  total  member 
ship  of  the  130  societies  was  6625,  exclusive  of  twelve  societies  in 
Illinois  from  which  no  returns  had  been  received.  These  statistics 
were  gathered  by  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Convention,  which  was 
held  at  Philadelphia,  in  1827. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  70 

In  the  year  1791,  the  date  that  Dr.  Buchanan  deliv 
ered  his  oration  at  Baltimore,  the  College  of  William 
and  Mary,  in  Virginia,  conferred  upon  Granville  Sharp, 
the  great  abolition  agitator  of  England,  the  degree  of 
LL.  D.  Granville  Sharp  had  no  other  reputation  than 
his  anti-slavery  record.  This  slender  straw  shows  signifi 
cantly  the  current  of  public  opinion  in  Virginia  at  that 
time.  If  Granville  Sharp  had  come  over  some  years 
later  to  visit  the  President  and  Fellows  of  the  College 
which  had  conferred  upon  him  so  distinguished  an 
honor,  it  might  have  been  at  the  risk  of  personal  lib 
erty,  if  not  of  life. 

Colleges  are  naturally  conservative,  both  from  prin 
ciple  and  from  policy.  Harvard  College  has  never  con 
ferred  upon  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison  the  least  of  its  aca 
demic  honors.  Wendell  Phillips,  its  own  alumnus,  the 
most  eloquent  of  its  living  orators,  and  having  in  his 
veins  a  strain  of  the  best  blood  of  Boston,  has  always 
been  snubbed  at  the  literary  and  festive  gatherings  of 
the  College.  Southern  gentlemen,  however,  agitators  of 
the  divine  and  biblical  origin  of  slavery,  have  ever 
found  a  welcome  on  those  occasions,  for  which  latter 
courtesy  the  College  should  be  honored. 

If  the  visitor  who  records  his  name  in  the  register  of 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  will  turn  to  the 
first  leaf,  he  will  find  standing  at  the  head  the  autograph 
of  Jefferson  Davis.  Whether  this  position  of  honor 
was  assigned  by  intention,  or  occurred  accidentally,  I 


74  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

can  not  state.  But  there  it  is,  and  if  you  forget  to  look 
for  yourself,  it  will  probably  be  shown  to  you  by  the 
attendant. 

Mr.  Davis,  with  his  family,  visited  Boston  in  1858, 
and  was  received  with  marked  attention  by  all.  During 
this  visit  he  was  introduced,  and  frequently  came  to  the 
Athenaeum,  where  I  made  his  acquaintance.  Among 
other  objects  of  interest  in  the  institution,  I  showed 
him  Washington's  library  and  this  oration  of  Dr.  Bu 
chanan.  Nothing  so  fixed  his  attention  as  this;  he  read 
it  and  expressed  himself  amazed.  He  had  heard  that 
such  sentiments  were  expressed  at  the  South,  but  had 
never  seen  them. 

I  am  conscious  that  while  I  have  taxed  your  patience, 
I  have  given  but  an  imperfect  presentation  of  the  sub 
ject.  If  this  endeavor  shall  serve  to  incite  members  of 
the  Club  to  investigate  the  subject  for  themselves,  my 
object  will  have  been  attained. 


Addenda. 


Since  the  preceding  pages  were  in  type,  I  have  seen,  in  the  library 
of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  the  printed  minutes  of  the  first 
convention  held  by  the  Abolition  Societies  of  the  United  States,  which 
met  at  Philadelphia,  January  i,  1794,  and  was  several  days  in  session, 
of  which  mention  was  made  on  page  59.  These  minutes  show  that 
my  statement  of  the  societies  represented  needs  correction.  The 
Rhode  Island  Society  appears  to  have  had  no  delegates  present.  The 
Virginia  Society  appointed  delegates  ;  but,  for  reasons  stated  below,  they 
were  not  admitted.  Several  societies,  however,  were  represented,  of 
which  before  I  had  seen  no  mention.  As  the  convention  met  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  and  as  traveling  was  then  expensive  and  difficult,  it  is 
evidence  of  a  deep  interest  in  the  subject,  that  so  many  delegations 
attended. 

The  convention  met  in  the  City  Hall,  at  Philadelphia,  and  organized 
by  choosing  Joseph  Bloomfield,  of  New  Jersey,  President;  John 
McCrea,  Secretary  ;  and  Joseph  Fry,  Door-keeper. 

The  following  societies  were  represented  by  the  delegates  named : 

Connecticut  Society — Uriah  Tracy. 

New  York  Society — Peter  Jay  Munroe,  Moses  Rogers,  Thomas 
Franklin,  Jr.,  William  Dunlap. 

New  Jersey  Society — Joseph  Bloomfield,  William  Coxe,  Jr.,  John 
Wistar,  Robert  Pearson,  Franklin  Davenport. 

Pennsylvania  Society — William  Rogers,  William  Rawle,  Samuel 
Powel  Grirfitts,  Robert  Patterson,  Samuel  Coates,  Benjamin  Rush. 


7 6  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

Washington  (Ptf.)  Society — Absalom  Baird. 

De/aivare  Society — Warren  Mifflin,  Isaiah  Rowland,  Joseph  Hodg 
son,  John  Pemberton. 

Wilmington  (Z)<?/.)  Society — Joseph  Warner,  Isaac  H.  Starr,  Robert 
Coram. 

Maryland  Society — Samuel  Sterett,  James  Winchester,  Joseph  Town- 
send,  Adam  Fonerdon,  Jesse  Hollingsworth. 

Chester-town  (Md.~)  Society — Joseph  Wilkinson,  James  Maslin,  Abra 
ham  Ridgely. 

A  letter,  directed  to  the  convention,  from  Robert  Pleasants,  chair 
man  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  of  the  Virginia  Society,  was 
presented  and  read.  By  this  letter  it  appeared  that  Samuel  Pleasants 
and  Israel  Pleasants,  of  Philadelphia,  were  appointed  to  represent  that 
society  in  the  convention;  and  in  case  of  their  declining,  or  being  pre 
vented  from  acting,  the  convention  were  at  liberty  to  nominate  two 
other  persons  as  their  representatives.  In  the  letter  was  inclosed  "an 
authentic  account  of  several  vessels  lately  fitted  out  in  Virginia  for  the 
African  slave-trade."  The  convention,  after  considering  the  proposi 
tion  of  the  Virginia  Society,  adopted  the  following  resolution  : 

"Reso/ved,  That  as  information,  and  an  unreserved  comparison  of 
one  another's  sentiments,  relative  to  the  important  cause  in  which  we 
are  severally  engaged,  are  our  principal  objects;  and  as  the  persons  ap 
pointed  by  the  Virginia  Society  are  not  citizens  of  that  State,  nor  mem 
bers  of  that  Society,  to  admit  them,  or,  according  to  their  proposal, 
for  us  to  elect  others  as  their  representatives,  would  be  highly  im 
proper." 

The  president  was  directed  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  letter, 
to  inform  the  Virginia  Society  of  the  above  resolution,  and  to  thank 
them  for  the  important  information  contained  in  the  letter. 

Benjamin  Rush,  William  Dunlap,  Samuel  Sterett,  William  Rawle, 
and  Warner  Mifflin,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  report  the  objects 


Anti- Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  77 

proper  for  the  consideration  of  the  convention,  and  the  best  plan  for 
carrying  the  same  into  execution.  Under  the  direction  of  this  com 
mittee,  memorials  were  prepared  to  be  sent  to  the  legislatures  of  the 
several  States  which  had  not  abolished  slavery ;  a  memorial  to  Con 
gress  asking  for  the  enactment  of  a  law  making  the  use  of  vessels  and 
men  in  the  slave-trade  a  penal  offense;  and  an  address  to  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  already  printed  in  a  note,  pp.  60-63.  ^  was 
also  voted  "  to  recommend  to  the  different  Abolition  societies  to  ap 
point  delegates  to  meet  in  convention,  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  first 
Wednesday  of  January,  1795,  and  on  the  same  day  in  every  year  after 
ward,  until  the  great  objects  of  their  original  association  be  accom 
plished." 

I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  find,  also,  in  the  New  York  Historical  Soci 
ety's  library,  the  minutes  of  the  conventions  of  1795  and  1797.  The 
convention  of  1795  met  in  the  City  Hall,  at  Philadelphia,  January  7, 
and  continued  in  session  till  the  I4th  of  that  month.  The  societies 
represented,  and  delegates,  were  as  follows : 

Rhode  Island  Society — Theodore  Foster.  The  credentials  from  the 
president  of  the  society  stated  that  George  Benson  was  also  appointed 
to  represent  the  society;  but  he  did  not  appear. 

Connecticut  Society — Jonathan  Edwards,  Uriah  Tracy,  Zephaniah 
Swift. 

New  York  Society — John  Murray,  Jr.,  William  Johnson,  Lawrence 
Embree,  William  Dunlap,  William  Walton  Woolsey. 

New  Jersey  Society — James  Sloan,  Franklin  Davenport.  Other  dele 
gates  appointed,  Joseph  Bloomfield,  William  Coxe,  Jr.,  and  John  Wis- 
tar,  did  not  appear.  It  was  explained  to  the  convention  that  the  ab 
sence  of  Mr.  Bloomfield  was  occasioned  by  sickness. 

Pennsylvania  Society — William  Rawle,  Robert  Patterson,  Benjamin 
Rush,  Samuel  Coates,  Caspar  Wistar,  James  Todd,  Benjamin  Say. 


78  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before   1800. 

Washington  (Pa)  Society — Thomas  Scott,  Absalom  Baird,  Samuel 
Clark. 

Delaware  Society — Richard  Bassctt,  John  Ralston,  Allen  McLane, 
Caleb  Boyer. 

Wilmington  (Del)  Society — Cyrus  Newlin,  James  A.  Bayard,  Joseph 
Warner,  William  Poole. 

Maryland  Society — Samuel  Sterett,  Adam  Fonerdon,  Joseph  Town- 
send,  Joseph  Thornburgh,  George  Buchanan,  John  Bankson,  Philip 
Moore. 

Chester-town  (Md.)  Society — Edward  Scott,  James  Houston. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  was  elected  President;  Walter  Franklin,  Secre 
tary;  and  Joseph  Fry,  Door-keeper. 

Jonathan  Edwards,  William  Dunlap,  Caspar  Wistar,  Cyrus  Newlin, 
Caleb  Boyer,  Philip  Moore,  and  James  Houston  were  appointed  the 
committee  on  business.  Memorials  were  prepared,  and  adopted  by  the 
convention,  to  be  sent  to  the  legislatures  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
as  both  States  still  persisted  in  the  importation  of  slaves.  An  address  to 
the  Abolition  Societies  of  the  United  States  was  also  adopted,  the  spirit 
of  which  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  extract : 

"  When  we  have  broken  his  chains,  and  restored  the  African  to  the 
enjoyment  of  his  rights,  the  great  work  of  justice  and  benevolence  is 
not  accomplished.  The  new-born  citizen  must  receive  that  instruction, 
and  those  powerful  impressions  of  moral  and  religious  truths,  which 
will  render  him  capable  and  desirous  of  fulfilling  the  various  duties  he 
owes  to  himself  and  to  his  country.  By  educating  some  in  the  higher 
branches,  and  all  in  the  useful  parts  of  learning,  and  in  the  precepts  of 
religion  and  morality,  we  shall  not  only  do  away  the  reproach  and 
calumny  so  unjustly  lavished  upon  us,  but  confound  the  enemies  of 
truth,  by  evincing  that  the  unhappy  sons  of  Africa,  in  spite  of  the  de 
grading  influence  of  slavery,  are  in  nowise  inferior  to  the  more  for 
tunate  inhabitants  of  Europe  and  America." 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  79 

The  fourth  annual  convention  of  the  Abolition  Societies  of  the 
United  States  was  held  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  at  Philadelphia,  May 
3,  1797.  The  societies  represented,  and  delegates,  were  as  follows: 

New  York  Society — Willett  Seaman,  Thomas  Eddy,  Samuel  L. 
Mitchell,  William  Dunlap,  Elihu  Hubbard  Smith. 

New  Jersey  Society — Joseph  Bloomfield,  Richard  Hartshorne,  Joseph 
Sloan,  William  Coxe,  Jr.,  William  Carpenter. 

Pennsylvania  Society — Benjamin  Rush,  William  Rawle,  Samuel  P. 
Griffitts,  Casper  Wistar,  Samuel  Coates,  Robert  Patterson,  James 
Todd. 

Maryland  Society — Francis  Johonnett,  Jesse  Tyson,  Gerrard  T. 
Hopkins. 

Cboptank  (Md.)  Society — Seth  Hill  Evitts. 
Virginia  Society  (at  Richmond) — Joseph  Anthony. 
Alexandria  (Fa.)  Society — George  Drinker. 

Joseph  Bloomfield  was  elected  President;  Thomas  P.  Cope,  Secre 
tary;  and  Jacob  Meyer,  Door-keeper. 

Communications  from  the  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  Choptank  (Md.),  Virginia,  and  Alexandria  (Va.)  Abolition 
Societies  were  read.  The  minutes  of  the  convention  of  1797  are  more 
elaborately  compiled,  and  contain  more  statistics  than  the  previous  re 
ports.  Among  other  papers  adopted  by  the  convention,  was  an  "Ad 
dress  to  the  Free  Africans."  Besides  the  seven  societies,  which  sent 
delegates,  the  eight  societies  following,  which  sent  none,  were  re 
ported,  viz  :  the  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Washington  (Pa.),  Del 
aware  (at  Dover),  Wilmington  (Del.),  Chester-town  (Md.), Winches 
ter  (Va.),  and  Kentucky  Societies.  Among  the  memorials  presented 
to  Congress,  in  1791,  was  one  from  the  Caroline  County  (Md.)  Society. 
Besides  the  Maryland  Society,  at  Baltimore,  there  appear  to  have  been 
three  local  societies  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  that  State. 


8o  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800. 

The  several  societies  reported  their  membership,  in  1797,  as  follows  : 
New  York  Society,  two  hundred  and  fifty  ;  New  Jersey  Society,  "  com 
piled  partially;"  Pennsylvania  Society,  five  hundred  and  ninety-one; 
Maryland  Society,  two  hundred  and  thirty-one ;  Choptank  (Md.)  So 
ciety,  twenty-five;  Wilmington  (Del.)  Society,  sixty;  Virginia  So 
ciety,  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  ;  Alexandria  (Va.)  Society,  sixty- 
two.  From  the  other  societies  no  reports  of  membership  were  received. 
The  Choptank  (Md.)  Society,  formed  in  1790,  reported  having  liber 
ated  more  than  sixty  slaves  ;  the  Wilmington  (Del.)  Society  reported 
having  liberated  eighty  since  1788  ;  and  the  Alexandria  (Va.)  Society 
reported  having  made  twenty-six  complaints  under  the  law  against  the 
importation  of  slaves.  By  votes  of  previous  conventions,  the  Abolition 
Societies  were  required  to  sustain  schools  for  the  education  of  Africans. 
The  minutes  for  1797  contain  interesting  reports  from  the  several  so 
cieties  of  their  success  in  this  department  of  benevolence. 

Before  the  year  1782,  it  was  illegal  in  Virginia  for  a  master  to  liber 
ate  his  slaves  without  sending  them  out  of  the  State.  The  Assembly 
of  Virginia  then  passed  an  act  permitting  the  manumission  of  slaves. 
Judge  Tucker,  of  that  State,  in  his  "  Dissertation  on  Slavery,"  estimated 
that,  from  1782  to  1791,  ten  thousand  slaves  were  liberated  in  Virginia 
by  their  masters. 

Of  the  anti-slavery  literature  of  this  period,  which  has  not  already 
been  noticed,  there  is  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society's  library, 
"An  Oration  spoken  before  the  Connecticut  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Freedom,  and  the  Relief  of  Persons  unlawfully  held  in  Bondage, 
convened  at  Hartford  the  8th  of  May,  1794.  By  Theodore  Dwight.* 
Hartford,  1794."  8vo,  24  pp.  Also,  a  "  Discourse  delivered  April 
12,  1797,  at  the  Request  of  the  New  York  Society  for  Promoting  the 
Manumission  of  Slaves,  and  protecting  such  of  them  as  have  been  or 

*The  "  Dwight "  to  whom,  with  others,  Bishop  Gregoire  inscribed  his  *'  Literature 
of  Negroes,"  was  probably  Theodore  Dwight,  and  not  President  Timothy  Dwight,  as 
stated  on  page  31. 


Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  1800.  81 

may  be  liberated.     By  Samuel   Miller,  A.  M.      New  York,   1787." 
8vo,  36  pp. 

In  the  Boston  Athenaeum  library  are  the  following  tracts : 

"A  Dissuasion  to  Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies  from  the  Slave 
Trade  to  Africa.  By  James  Swan.  Revised  and  abridged.  Boston, 
1773."  8vo,  40  pp.  The  original  edition  was  printed  in  1772. 

"A  Forensic  Dispute  on  the  Legality  of  Enslaving  the  Africans,  held 
at  a  Public  Commencement  in  Cambridge,  N.  E.,  July  21,  1773,  by 
the  Candidates  for  the  Bachelors'  Degrees.  Boston,  1773."  8vo, 
48  pp. 

"A  Short  Account  of  that  Part  of  Africa  inhabited  by  the  Negroes. 
[By  Anthony  Benezet.]  Philadelphia,  1772."  8vo,  80  pp. 

"An  Address  to  the  British  Settlements  in  America  upon  Slavehold- 
ing.  Second  edition.  To  which  are  added  Observations  on  a  Pam 
phlet  entitled  '  Slavery  not  forbidden  by  Scripture ;  or,  a  Defence  of 
the  West  Indian  Planters.'  By  a  Pennsylvanian  [Dr.  Benjamin  Rush]. 
Philadelphia,  1773."  8vo,  pp.  28  -J-  54.  Also,  another  edition  issued 
the  same  year,  with  the  title  somewhat  varied ;  the  second  part  being 
termed,  "A  Vindication  of  the  Address  to  the  Inhabitants,"  etc.  The 
pamphlet  entitled  "  Slavery  not  forbidden  by  Scripture,"  etc.,  was 
written  by  R.  Nisbet,  and  is  in  the  Library  of  Congress. 

"  Memorials  presented  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  the 
different  Societies  instituted  for  promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  in 
the  States  of  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Virginia.  Published  by  the  Pennsylvania  Society  for 
promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery.  Philadelphia.  Printed  by  Fran 
cis  Bailey,  1792."  8vo,  31  pp. 

This  tract  contains  the  memorials  which  were  presented  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  December  8,  1791,  and  which  were  read 
and  referred.  The  Rhode  Island  memorial  is  signed  by  David  Howell, 
President,  and  dated  December  28,  1790.  Connecticut — by  Ezra 
Stiles,  President;  Simon  Baldwin,  Secretary;  January  7,  1791.  New 
York — by  Matthew  Clarkson,  Vice-President  ;  December  14,.  179°* 


82  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before   1800. 

Pennsylvania — by  James  Pemberton,  President  ;  John  McCrea  and 
Joseph  P.  Norris,  Secretaries  ;  October  3,  1791.  Washington  (Pa.) — 
by  Andrew  Swearingen,  Vice-President.  Maryland,  in  Baltimore — 
"Signed  by  the  members  generally  ;"  but  the  names  of  no  members  are 
given.  Chester-town,  Maryland — by  James  M.  Anderson,  President ; 
Daniel  McCurtin,  Secretary  ;  November  19,1791.  Caroline  County, 
Maryland — by  Edward  White,  Vice-President ;  Charles  Emery,  Sec 
retary  ;  September  6,  1791. 

Of  the  sixteen  Abolition  Societies  existing  in  the  United  States  during 
this  decade,  it  appears  that  six  were  in  States  which,  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  late  rebellion,  were  non-slaveholding ;  and  ten  were  in  slaveholding 
States. 


DR.  GEORGE  BUCHANAN'S 

ORATION  ON  SLAVERY, 

BALTIMORE,  July  4,  1791. 


AN 


ORATION 

UPON    THE 

MORAL  AND    POLITICAL    EVIL 


o  F 


SLAVERY. 

D  ELIV  ERED  AT  A   PUBLIC    MEETING 


OF  THE 


MARYLAND     SOCIETY 

FOR     PROMOTING     THE 

ABOLITION    of    SLAVERY, 

And  the    RELIEF    of   FREE    NEGROES,  and 
others  unlawfully  held  in    BONDAGE. 

BALTIMORE,  July  4th,    1791. 


By  GEORGE   BUCHANAN,    M.   D 

Member  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society. 


BALTIMORE:    Printed    by    PHILIP    EDWARDS. 

M,DCC,XCIII. 


******      *      *      *     *      *       *********** 


At  a  special   meeting   of  the  "MARYLAND    SOCIETY  for 

promoting    the    Abolition    of    Slavery,    and   the    Relief  of  free 
Negroes    and  others    unlawfully    held    in    Bondage,"    held    at 
Baltimore,   July  $th,    1791,  — 
"  UNANIMOUSLY  RESOLVED 


A 


HAT  the  President  present  the  Thanks  of  this  Society 
to  Dr.  George  Buchanan,  for  the  excellent  ORATION,  by  him 
delivered  this  Day  —  and  at  the  same  time  request  a  copy  there 
of  in  the  Name  and  for  the  Use  of  the  Society." 

Extract  from  the  Minutes. 

JOSEPH  TOWNSEND,  Secretary. 
President,  SAMUEL  STERETT, 
Vice  President,  ALEXR-  M'KiM. 

******    ***********     *    *     *    *    * 


To  THE  HONORABLE 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  Efq. 
SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

VV  HOSE  Patriotism,  since  the  American  Revolution, 
has  been  uniformly  marked,  by  a  sincere,  steady  and  active 
Attachment  to  the  Interest  of  his  Country  ;  and  whose  literary 
Abilities  have  distinguished  him  amongst  the  first  of  Statesmen 
and  Philosophers — 

THIS  ORATION 

Is    respectfully    inscribed,    as    an   humble   Testimony   of   the 

highest   Regard  and  Esteem,  by 

THE  AUTHOR. 


ORATION 


CITIZENS  and  FELLOW-MEMBERS, 

WUMMONED  by  your  voice,  I  appear  before  you  with  diffi- 
dence  ;  the  arduous  task  you  have  imposed  upon  me,  would 
have  been  better  executed  by  some  one  of  greater  abilities  and 
information,  and  one  more  versed  in  public  speaking. 

However,  my  feeble  exertions  shall  not  be  wanting  to  promote 
the  intentions  of  so  laudable  an  institution  ;  and  while  I  endea 
vour  to  fulfil  the  purport  of  this  meeting,  I  shall  hope  not  to  fail 
in  proving  its  utility. 

Too  much  cannot  be  offered  against  the  unnatural  custom  that 
pervades  the  greatest  part  of  the  world,  of  dragging  the  human 
race  into  slavery  and  bondage,  nor  of  exposing  the  ignominy  of 
such  barbarity. 

Let  an  impartial  view  of  man  be  taken,  so  far  as  it  respects  his 
existence,  and  in  the  chain  of  thought,  the  white,  swarthy  and 
black,  will  be  all  linked  together,  and  at  once  point  out  their 
equality.  God  hath  created  mankind  after  his  own  image,  and 
granted  to  them  liberty  and  independence  ;  and  if  varieties  may 
be  found  in  their  structure  and  colour,  these  are  only  to  be  attri 
buted  to  the  nature  of  their  diet  and  habits,  as  also  of  the  soil 
and  climate  they  may  inhabit,  and  serve  as  flimsy  pretexts  for 
enslaving  them. 

In  the  first  rudiment  of  society,  when  simplicity  characterised 
the  conduct  of  man,  slavery  was  unknown,  every  one  equally 
enjoyed  that  peace  and  tranquility  at  home,  to  which  he  was 
naturally  born  :  But  this  equality  existed  but  for  a  time;  as  yet 
no  laws,  no  government  was  established  to  check  the  ambitious, 
or  to  curb  the  crafty  j  hence  reprisals  were  made  upon  the  best 

property 


8 

property  by  the  strong  and  robust,  and  finally  subjected  the  weak 
and  indigent  to  poverty  and  want. 

Here  then  arose  a  difference  in  the  circumstances  of  men,  and 
the  poor  and  weak  were  obliged  to  submit  themselves  to  the  con 
trol  of  the  rich  and  powerful ;  but  although  the  authority  exer 
cised  was  at  first  mild,  and  ensured  to  the  bondsmen  almost  the 
same  privileges  with  their  masters,  yet  the  idea  of  power  soon 
crept  in  upon  the  mind,  and  at  length  lenity  was  converted  into 
rigidity,  and  the  gall  of  servitude  became  insupportable  ;  the 
oppressed,  soon  found  that  that  liberty,  which  they  had  just  given 
up,  was  an  inalienable  privilege  of  man,  and  sought  means  to 
regain  it:  this  was  effected, — but  not  until  a  time  when  igno 
rance  began  to  decline,  when  improvements  were  made  in  the 
arts,  commerce  and  governments,  and  when  men  could  seek 
protection  from  law,  or  by  industry  could  ward  off  the  bitterness 
of  poverty,  and  ensure  to  themselves  an  independence. 

Happy  circumstance  !  To  feel  oneself  emancipated  from  the 
chains  of  slavery,  must  awaken  every  delicate  sensation  of  the 
soul,  and  transport  the  gloomy  mind  into  a  region  of  bliss  ;  for 
what  is  life,  without  an  enjoyment  of  those  privileges  which  have 
been  given  to  us  by  nature  ?  It  is  a  burden,  which,  if  not  awed  by 
Divine  Providence,  would  be  speedily  cast  off,  by  all  who  sweat 
under  the  yoke  of  slavish  servitude,  and  know  no  alternative  but 
an  unceasing  submission  to  the  goads  of  a  brutal  master. 

Ages  have  revolved  since  this  happy  condition  of  human 
affairs;  and  although  mankind  have  been  gradually  verging  from 
a  state  of  simplicity  to  a  more  social  refinement,  yet  the  govern 
ments  of  those  primitive  times  laid  open  an  analogy  for  licen 
tiousness  ;  and  we  find,  by  pursuing  the  history  of  man,  that 
slavery  was  again  introduced,  and  stained  the  annals  of  all  the 
powers  of  Europe. 

The  idea  of  possessing,  as  property,  was  too  lucrative  to  be 
totally  eradicated;  it  diffused  itself  into  Egypt  and  Cyprus,  which 
became  the  first  and  most  noted  markets  for  the  sale  and  purchase 
of  slaves,  and  soon  became  the  cause  of  rapine  and  bloodshed  in 
Greece  and  Rome  :  there  it  was  an  established  custom  to  subject 
to  slavery  all  the  captives  in  time  of  war ;  and  not  only  the  Em 
perors,  but  the  nobility,  were  in  possession  of  thousands — to  them 
they  served  as  instruments  of  diversion  and  authority. 

To  give  an  idea  only  of  the  amphitheatrical  entertainments, 
so  repugnant  to  humanity,  would  make  the  most  obdurate  heart 
feel  with  keen  sensibility,  For  to  hear  with  patience  of 

voracious 


9 

voracious  animals  being  turned  loose  among  human  beings,  to 
give  sport  to  the  rich  and  great,  when,  upon  reflection,  he  may 
be  assured,  that  the  merciless  jaw  knew  no  restraint  but  pre 
cipitately  charged  upon  its  prey  whom  it  left,  without  remorse, 
either  massacred  or  maimed. 

Such  was  the  practice  among  the  ancients,  and  to  charge  the 
modern  with  like  enormities,  would  by  many  be  deemed  crim 
inal. 

But  I  fear  not  to  accuse  them — the  prosecution  of  the  present 
barbarous  and  iniquitous  slave  trade  affords  us  too  many  in 
stances  of  cruelties  exercised  against  the  harmless  Africans.  A 
trade,  which,  after  it  was  abolished  in  Europe  by  the  general  in 
troduction  of  Christianity,  was  again  renewed  about  the  fourteenth 
century  by  the  mercenary  Portuguese,  and  now  prosecuted  by 
the  Spaniards,  French  and  British,  in  defiance  of  every  princi 
ple  of  justice,  humanity  and  religion. 

Ye  moderns,  will  you  not  blush  at  degenerating  into  ancient 
barbarity,  and  at  wearing  the  garb  of  Christians,  when  you  pur 
sue  the  practices  of  savages  ? 

Hasten  to  reform,  and  put  an  end  to  this  unnatural  and  de 
structive  trade — Do  you  not  know  that  thousands  of  your  fellow- 
mortals  are  annually  entombed  by  it  ?  and  that  it  proves  ruinous 
to  your  government  ?  You  go  to  Africa  to  purchase  slaves  for 
foreign  markets,  and  lose  the  advantages  of  all  the  proper  ar 
ticles  of  commerce,  which  that  country  affords.  You  bury 
your  seamen  upon  the  pestiferous  shores  ;  and,  shocking  to  hu 
manity  !  make  monsters  of  all  you  engage  in  the  traffic. 

Who  are  more  brutal  than  the  Captains  of  vessels  in  the  slave 
trade?  Not  even  the  tawny  savage  of  the  American  wilds,  who 
thirsts  after  the  blood  of  the  Christian,  and  carries  off  his  scalp 
the  trophy  of  splendid  victory  ! 

They  even  countenance  the  practice  of  the  ancients,  in  seeing 
a  sturdy  mastiff  tear  in  pieces  some  poor  wretch  of  their  hateful 
cargoes,  or  in  viewing  their  wreathes  and  tortures,  when  smart 
ing  under  the  lash  of  a  seasoned  cat.* 

It  is  time  to  abolish  these  enormities,  and  to  stay  such  repeated 
insults  from  being  offered  to  Divine  Providence  :  Some  dreadful 
curse  from  heaven  may  be  the  effect  of  them,  and  the  innocent 
be  made  to  suffer  for  the  guilty. 

What,  will  you  not  consider  that  the  Africans  are  men  ?  that 
they  have  human  souls  to  be  saved  ?  that  they  are  born  free  and 
independent  ?  A  violation  of  which  prerogatives  is  an  infringe 
ment  upon  the  laws  of  God. 

But 

%A  ivbif  ivith  nine  tails. 


IO 


But,  are  these  the  only  crimes  you  are  guilty  of  in  pursuing 
the  trade  ?  No — you  stir  up  the  harmless  Africans  to  war,  and 
stain  their  fields  with  blood  :  you  keep  constant  hostile  ferment 
in  their  territories,  in  order  to  procure  captives  for  your  uses ; 
some  you  purchase  with  a  few  trifling  articles,  and  waft  to  distant 
shores  to  be  made  the  instruments  of  grandeur,  pride  and  luxury. 

You  commit  also  the  crime  of  kidnapping  others,  whom  you 
forcibly  drag  from  their  beloved  country,  from  the  bosoms  of  their 
dearest  relatives  ;  so  leave  a  wife  without  a  husband,  a  sister 
without  a  brother,  and  a  helpless  infant  to  bemoan  the  loss  of  its 
indulgent  parent. 

Could  you  but  see  the  agonizing  pangs  of  these  distressed  mor 
tals,  in  the  hour  of  their  captivity,  when  deprived  of  every  thing 
that  is  dear  to  them,  it  would  make  even  the  heathenish  heart  to 
melt  with  sorrow  ;  like  a  noble  Senator  of  old,  death  is  their  choice 
in  preference  to  lingering  out  their  lives  in  ignominious  slavery — 
and  often  do  we  see  them  meet  it  with  a  smile. 

The  horrors  of  the  grave  intimidate  not  even  the  delicate  fe 
males  ;  too  many  melancholy  instances  are  recorded  of  their 
plunging  into  the  deep,  and  carrying  with  them  a  tender  infant 
at  the  breast ;  even  in  my  own  recollection,  suicide  has  been  com 
mitted  in  various  forms  by  these  unhappy  wretches,  under  the 
blind  infatuation  of  revisiting  the  land  of  their  nativity. 

Possessed  of  Christian  sentiments,  they  fail  not  to  exercise  them 
when  an  opportunity  offers.  Things  pleasing  rejoice  them,  and 
melancholy  circumstances  pall  their  appetites  for  amusements. — 
They  brook  no  insults,  and  are  equally  prone  to  forgiveness  as 
to  resentment ;  they  have  gratitude  also,  and  will  even  expose 
their  own  lives,  to  wipe  off  the  obligation  of  past  favours  ;  nor 
do  they  want  any  of  the  refinements  of  taste,  so  much  the  boast 
of  those  who  call  themselves  Christians. 

The  talent  for  music,  both  vocal  and  instrumental,  appears  na 
tural  to  them  :  Neither  is  theirgenius  for  literature  to  be  despised  ; 
many  instances  are  recorded  of  men  of  eminence  amongst  them  : 
Witness  Ignatius  Sancho,  whose  letters  are  admired  by  all  men  of 
taste — Phillis  Wheatley,  who  distinguished  herself  as  a  poetess — 
The  physician  of  New  Orleans — The  Virginia  calculator — Ban- 
neker,  the  Maryland  Astronomer,  and  many  others  whom  it 
would  be  needless  to  mention.  These  are  sufficient  to  shew, 
that  the  Africans,  whom  you  despise,  whom  you  inhumanly 
treat  as  brutes,  and  whom  you  unlawfully  subject  to  slavery, 
with  the  tyrannizing  hands  of  Despots,  are  equally  capable  of 
improvements  with  yourselves. 

This 


ir 

This  you  may  think  a  bold  assertion,  but  it  is  not  made  with 
out  reflection,  nor  independent  of  the  testimony  of  many,  who 
have  taken  pains  with  their  education. 

Because  you  see  few,  in  comparison  to  their  number,  who  make 
any  exertions  of  abilities  at  all,  you  are  ready  to  enjoy  the  com 
mon  opinion,  that  they  are  an  inferior  set  of  beings,  and  de 
stined  by  nature  to  the  cruelties  and  hardships  you  impose  upon 
them. 

But  be  cautious  how  long  you  hold  such  sentiments  ;  the  time 
may  come,  when  you  will  be  obliged  to  abandon  them—consider 
the  pitiable  situation  of  these  most  distressed  beings;  deprived 
of  iheir  liberty  and  reduced  to  slavery  ;  consider  also,  that  they 
toil  not  for  themselves,  from  the  rising  of  the  Sun  to  its  going 
down,  and  you  will  readily  conceive  the  cause  of  their  inaction. 
What  time,  or  what  incitement  has  a  slave  to  become  wise  ? 
there  is  no  great  art  in  hilling  corn,  or  in  running  a  furrow; 
and  to  do  this,  they  know  they  are  doomed,  whether  they  seek 
into  the  mysteries  of  science,  or  remain  ignorant  as  they  are. 

To  deprive  a  man  of  his  liberty,  has  a  tendency  to  rob  his 
soul  of  every  spring  to  virtuous  actions;  and  were  slaves  to  be 
come  fiends,  the  wonder  could  not  be  great.  Nothing  more 
assimilates  a  man  to  a  beast,  says  the  learned  Montesque,  than 
being  among  freemen,  himself  a  slave;  for  slavery  clogs  the 
mind,  perverts  the  moral  faculty,  and  reduces  the  conduct  of 
man  to  the  standard  of  brutes. 

What  right  then  have  you  to  expect  greater  things  from  these 
poor  mortals  ?  You  would  not  blame  a  brute  for  committing 
ravages  upon  his  prey,  nor  ought  you  to  censure  a  slave,  for 
making  attempts  to  regain  his  liberty  even  at  the  risque  of  life 
itself. 

Ye  mercenary  Portuguese,  ye  ambitious  French,  and  ye  deceit 
ful  Britons,  I  again  call  upon  you  to  take  these  things  into 
your  consideration  ;  it  is  time,  a  remorse  of  conscience  had  seized 
upon  you;  it  is  time,  you  were  apprised  of  your  danger:  Be 
hold  the  thousands  that  are  annually  lost  to  your  governments, 
in  the  prosecution  of  an  unlawful  and  iniquitous  trade. 

View  the  depredations  that  you  commit  upon  a  nation,  born 
equally  free  with  yourselves  ;  consider  the  abyss  of  misery  into 
which  you  plunge  your  fellow-mortals,  and  reflect  upon  the  hor 
rid  crimes  you  are  hourly  committing  under  the  bright  sunshine 
of  revealed  religion. — Will  you  not  then  find  yourselves  upon  a 
precipice,  and  protected  from  ruin,  only  because  you  are  too 

wicked  to  be  lost  ? 

What 


12 

What  Empire,  or  what  State  can  have  the  hope  of  existing, 
which  prosecutes  a  trade,  that  proves  a  sinking  fund  to  her  cof 
fers,  and  to  her  subjects,  that  tramples  the  human  species  under 
foot,  with  as  much  indifference  as  the  dirt,  and  fills  the  world 
with  misery  and  woe  ? 

Let  not  a  blind  hardness  of  opinion  any  longer  bias  your 
judgments,  and  prevent  you  from  acting  like  Christians. 

View  the  Empires  amongst  the  ancients;  behold  Egypt  in  the 
time  of  Secostris,  Greece  in  the  time  of  Cyrus,  and  Rome  in 
the  reign  of  Augustus ;  view  them  all,  powerful  as  enemies, 
patterns  of  virtue  and  science,  bold  and  intrepid  in  war,  free 
and  independent;  and  now  see  them  sacrificed  at  the  shrine  of 
luxury,  and  dwindled  into  insignificance.  When  in  power,  they 
usurped  the  authority  of  God,  they  stretched  out  their  arms  to 
encompass  their  enemies,  and  bound  their  captives  in  iron  chains 
of  slavery. 

Vengeance  was  then  inflicted,  their  spoils  became  the  instru 
ments  of  pride,  luxury  and  dissipation,  and  finally  proved  the 
cause  of  their  present  downfall. 

Then  look  back  at  home  ;  view  your  degeneracy  from  the 
times  of  Louis  the  I4th  and  Charles  the  2d,  and  if  a  universal 
blush  don't  prevail,  it  will  argue  a  hardness  of  heart,  tempered 
by  a  constant  action  of  wickedness  upon  the  smooth  anvil  of  re 
ligion. 

For  such  are  the  effects  of  subjecting  man  to  slavery,  that  it 
destroys  every  human  principle,  vitiates  the  mind,  instills  ideas 
of  unlawful  cruelties,  and  eventually  subverts  the  springs  of  go 
vernment, 

What  a  distressing  scene  is  here  before  us.  America,  I  start  at 
your  situation  !  The  idea  of  these  direful  effects  of  slavery  de 
mand  your  most  serious  attention. — What  !  shall  a  people,  who 
flew  to  arms  with  the  valour  of  Roman  Citizens,  when  encroach 
ments  were  made  upon  their  liberties,  by  the  invasion  of  foreign 
powers,  now  basely  descend  to  cherish  the  seed  and  propagate  the 
growth  of  the  evil,  which  they  boldly  sought  to  eradicate.  To 
the  eternal  infamy  of  our  country,  this  will  be  handed  down  to 
posterity,  written  in  the  blood  of  African  innocence. 

If  your  forefathers  have  been  degenerate  enough  to  introduce 
slavery  into  your  country,  to  contaminate  the  minds  of  her  citi 
zens,  you  ought  to  have  the  virtue  of  extirpating  it. 

Emancipated  from  the  shackles  of  despotism,  you  know  no  su 
perior  ;  free  and  independent,  you  stand  equally  respected  among 

your 


'3 

your  foes,  and  your  allies. — Renowned  in  history,  for  your  va 
lour,  and  for  your  wisdom,  your  way  is  left  open  to  the  highest 
eminence  of  human  perfection. 

But  while  with  pleasing  hopes  you  may  anticipate  such  an  event, 
the  echo  of  expiring  freedom  cannot  fail  to  assail  the  ears,  and 
pierce  the  heart  with  keen  reproach. 

In  the  first  struggles  for  American  freedom,  in  the  enthusiastic 
ardour  for  attaining  liberty  and  independence,  one  of  the  most 
noble  sentiments  that  ever  adorned  the  human  breast,  was  loud 
ly  proclaimed  in  all  her  councils — 

Deeply  penetrated  with  a  sense  of  Equality,  they  held  it  as  a 
fixed  principle,  "that  all  men  are  by  nature  and  of  right  ought  to 
be  free,  that  they  are  created  equal  and  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  amongst  which  are  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

Nevertheless,  when  the  blessings  of  peace  were  showered  upon 
them,  when  they  had  obtained  these  rights  which  they  had  so  boldly 
contended  for,  then  they  became  apostates  to  their  prin 
ciples,  and  rivetted  the  fetters  of  slavery  upon  the  unfortunate 
Africans. 

Deceitful  men  !  who  could  have  suggested,  that  American  pa 
triotism  would  at  this  day  countenance  a  conduct  so  inconsistent  ; 
that  while  America  boasts  of  being  a  land  of  freedom,  and  an 
asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  Europe,  she  should  at  the  same  time 
foster  an  abominable  nursery  for  slaves,  to  check  the  shoots  of 
her  growing  liberty  ? 

Deaf  to  the  clamours  of  criticism,  she  feels  no  remorse,  and 
blindly  pursues  the  object  of  her  destruction;  she  encourages  the 
propagation  of  vice,  and  suffers  her  youth  to  be  reared  in  the 
habits  of  cruelty. 

Not  even  the  sobs  and  groans  of  injured  innocence,  which 
reek  from  every  State,  can  excite  her  pity,  nor  human  misery 
bend  her  heart  to  sympathy. 

Cruel  and  oppressive  she  wantonly  abuses  the  Rights  of  Man, 
and  willingly  sacrifices  her  liberty  at  the  altar  of  slavery :  What 
an  opportunity  is  here  given  for  triumph  among  her  enemies? 
Will  they  not  exclaim,  that  upon  this  very  day,  while  the  Ame 
ricans  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  Freedom  and  Independence, 
abject  slavery  exists  in  all  her  States  but  one.* 

How  degenerately  base  to  merit  the  rebuke.  Fellow-country 
men,  let  the  heart  of  humanity  awake  and  direct  your  counsels  ; 

reflect 

^Massachusetts. 


'4 

reflect  that  slavery  gains  root  among  you  ;  look  back  upon  the 
curses  which  it  has  heaped  upon  your  ancestors,  and  unanimous 
ly  combine  to  drive  the  fiend  Monster  from  your  territories  ;  it 
is  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  your  government,  with  the 
education  of  your  youth,  and  highly  derogatory  to  the  true  spi 
rit  of  Christianity. 

In  despotic  governments,  says  Montesque,  where  they  are  al 
ready  in  a  state  of  political  slavery,  civil  slavery  is  more  tolerable 
than  in  other  governments  ;  for  there  the  minds  of  masters  and 
servants  are  equally  degenerate  and  act  in  unison. — But  in  Ame 
rica,  this  cannot  be  the  case;  here  the  pure  forms  of  Republican 
ism  are  established,  and  hold  forth  to  the  world  the  enjoyment  of 
Freedom  and  Independence. 

Her  citizens  have  thrown  off  the  load  of  oppression,  under 
which  they  formerly  laboured  ;  and  elated  with  their  signal  vic 
tories,  have  become  oppressors  in  their  turn. 

They  have  slaves,  over  whom  they  carry  the  iron  rod  of  sub 
jection,  and  fail  not  to  exercise  it  with  cruelty,  hence  their  situ 
ations  become  insupportable,  misery  inhabits  their  cabins,  and 
persecution  pursues  them  in  the  field. 

I  would  wish  to  be  partial  to  my  country,  and  carry  a  hand  of 
lenity  ;  it  is  more  pleasing  to  celebrate  than  to  detract,  but  who 
ever  takes  a  view  of  the  situation  of  its  slaves,  will  find  it  even 
worse  than  this  description. 

Naked  and  starved,  they  often  fall  victims  to  the  inclemencies 
of  the  weather,  and  inhumanly  beaten;  sacrifices  to  the  turbu 
lent  tempers  of  their  cruel  masters. 

Unfortunate  Africans  !  born  in  freedom,  and  subjected  to  sla 
very  !  How  long  will  you  remain  the  spoils  of  despotism,  and  the 
harbinger  of  human  calamities  ?  Cannot  your  distresses  awaken 
the  heart  of  sensibility,  and  excite  her  pity  ?  Cannot  your  un 
lawful  treatment  call  forth  the  voice  of  humanity  to  plead  your 
cause  ? 

Americans  !  step  forward  ;  you  have  already  diffused  a  spirit  of 
Liberty  throughout  the  world  ;  you  have  set  examples  of  hero 
ism  ;  and  now  let  me  intreat  you  to  pave  the  way  to  the  exercise 
of  humanity  :  an  opportunity  is  offered  to  raise  yourselves  to 
the  first  eminence  among  mankind. 

Rouse  then  from  your  lethargy,  and  let  not  such  torpid  indif 
ference  prevail  in  your  councils. — Slavery,  the  most  implacable 
enemy  to  your  country,  is  harboured  amongst  you  ;  it  makes  a 
rapid  progress,  and  threatens  you  with  destruction. 

Already 


15 

Already  has  it  disturbed  the  limpid  streams  of  liberty,  it  has 
polluted  the  minds  of  your  youth,  sown  the  seeds  of  despotism, 
and  without  a  speedy  check  to  her  ravages,  will  sink  you  into  a 
pit  of  infamy,  where  you  shall  be  robbed  of  all  the  honours  you 
have  before  acquired. 

Let  it  be  viewed  either  morally  or  politically,  and  no  one 
argument  can  be  adduced  in  its  favour. 

The  savage  mind  may  perhaps  become  reconciled  to  it,  but  the 
heart  of  the  Christian  must  recoil  at  the  idea. — He  sees  it  for 
bidden  in  Holy  Writ,  and  his  conscience  dictates  to  him,  that  it 
is  wrong. 

"  He  that  stealeth  a  man"  says  Exodus,  "  and  selleth  him, 
or  if  be  be  found  in  bis  band,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death.'1 

Oh  my  countrymen  !  are  there  any  of  you  who  can  con  over 
this  elegant  passage  of  Scripture,  without  trembling  ;  or  can  you 
stand  before  the  great  Author  of  your  existence,  with  an  arm 
uplifted  to  subject  his  creatures  to  slavery,  without  dreading  an 
execution  of  this  divine  threat. 

"  The  nation,  to  whom  they  shall  be  in  bondage,  will  I  judge, 
said  God" — and  what  that  judgment  may  be,  is  beyond  the  sug 
gestion  of  mortals.  We  may  be  hurled  amidst  the  elements  of 
woe  to  expiate  the  guilt,  for  he  who  holdeth  men  in  slavery 
liveth  in  sin. 

In  a  civilized  country,  where  religion  is  tolerated  in  all  its 
purity,  it  must  be  the  fault  of  ignorance,  or  a  stubborn  indif 
ference  to  Christianity,  to  rebel  against  divine  sentiments;  and 
considering  slavery  in  a  political  view,  it  must  appear  equal 
ly  as  destructive  to  our  terrestial  happiness,  as  it  endangers  our 
enjoyment  of  heavenly  bliss. 

For  who  is  there,  unless  innured  to  savage  cruelties,  that  can 
hear  of  the  inhuman  punishments  daily  inflicted  upon  the  unfor 
tunate  Blacks,  without  feeling  for  their  situations  ? 

Can  a  man  who  calls  himself  a  Christian,  coolly  and  deliberate 
ly  tie  up,  thumb  screw,  torture  with  pincers,  and  beat  unmerci 
fully  a  poor  slave,  for  perhaps  a  trifling  neglect  of  duty  ?  Or  can 
any  one  be  an  eye  witness  to  such  enormities,  without  at  the 
same  time  being  deeply  pursuaded  of  its  guilt  ? 

I  fear  these  questions  may  be  answered  in  the  affirmative,  but 
I  hope  by  none  of  this  respectable  audience;  for  such  men  must 
be  monsters,  not  of  the  regular  order  of  nature,  and  equally 
prone  to  murder,  or  to  less  cruelties. 

But  independent  of  these  effects,  which  the  existence  of  slavery 


in 


i6 

in  any  country  has  over  the  moral  faculty  of  man,  it  is  highly 
injurious  to  its  natural  ceconomy ;  it  debars  the  progress  of  agri 
culture,  and  gives  origin  to  sloth  and  luxury. 

View  the  fertile  fields  of  Great  Britain,  where  the  hand  of 
freedom  conducts  the  plowshare,  then  look  back  upon  your  own, 
and  see  how  mean  will  be  the  comparison. 

Your  labourers  are  slaves,  and  they  have  no  inducement,  no 
incentive  to  be  industrious  ;  they  are  cloathed  and  victualled, 
whether  lazy  or  hard-working  ;  and  from  the  calculations  that 
have  been  made,  one  freeman  is  worth  almost  two  slaves  in  the 
field,  which  makes  it  in  many  instances  cheaper  to  have  hire 
lings  ;  for  they  are  incited  to  industry  by  the  hopes  of  repu 
tation  and  future  employment,  and  are  careful  of  their  apparel 
and  their  instruments  of  husbandry,  where  they  must  provide 
them  for  themselves,  whereas,  the  others  have  little  or  no  tempta 
tion  to  attend  to  any  of  these  circumstances. 

But  this,  the  prejudiced  mind  is  scarce  able  to  scan,  the  pride 
of  holding  men  as  property  is  too  flattering  to  yield  to  the  dic 
tates  of  reason,  and  blindly  pushes  on  man  to  his  destruction. 

What  a  pity  is  it,  that  darkness  should  so  obscure  us,  that 
America  with  all  her  transcending  glory,  should  be  stigmatized 
with  the  infamous  reproach  of  oppression,  and  her  citizens  be 
called  Tyrants. 

Fellow-countrymen,  let  the  hand  of  persecution  be  no  longer 
raised  against  you. — Act  virtuously ;  do  unto  all  men  as  you  would 
they  should  do  unto  you,  and  exterminate  the  pest  of  slavery 
from  your  land. 

Then  will  the  tongues  of  slander  be  silenced,  the  shafts  of  cri 
ticism  blunted,  and  America  enter  upon  a  new  theatre  of  glory. 

But  unless  these  things  shall  be  done,  unless  the  calamitous 
situation  of  the  slaves  shall  at  least  be  alleviated,  what  is  America 
to  expect  ?  Can  she  think  that  such  repeated  insults  to  Divine 
Authority  will  pass  off  with  impunity  ?  Or  can  she  suppose,  that 
men,  who  are  naturally  born  free,  shall  forever  sweat  under  the 
yoke  of  ignominious  slavery,  without  making  one  effort  to  regain 
their  liberty  ? 

No,  my  countrymen,  these  things  are  not  to  be  expected. — 
Heaven  will  not  overlook  such  enormities  !  She  is  bound  to 
punish  impenitent  sinners, and  her  wrath  is  to  be  dreaded  by  all! 
Moreover,  the  number  of  slaves,  that  are  harboured  amongst 
you  holds  forth  an  alarm  ;  in  many  parts  of  the  continent  they 
exceed  the  whites,  and  are  capable  of  ransacking  the  country. 

What 


I? 

What  then,  if  the  fire  of  Liberty  shall  be  kindled  amongst 
them  ?  What,  if  some  enthusiast  in  their  cause  shall  beat  to  arms, 
and  call  them  to  the  standard  of  freedom  ?  Would  they  fly 
in  clouds,  until  their  numbers  became  tremendous,  and  threaten 
the  country  with  devastation  and  ruin  ? — It  would  not  be  the 
feeble  efforts  of  an  undisciplined  people,  that  could  quell  their 
fury. 

Led  on  by  the  hopes  of  freedom,  and  animated  by  the  aspiring 
voice  of  their  leader,  they  would  soon  find,  that  "a  day,  an  hour 
of  virtuous  liberty,  was  worth  a  whole  eternity  of  bondage." 

Hark  !  Methinks  1  hear  the  work  begun,  the  Blacks  have 
sought  for  Allies,  and  found  them  in  the  wilderness  ;  they  have 
called  the  rusty  savages  to  their  assistance,  and  are  preparing  to 
take  revenge  of  their  haughty  masters.* 

A  revenge,  which  they  consider  as  justly  merited  ;  for  being 
no  longer  able  to  endure  their  unnatural  and  unlawful  bondage, 
they  are  determined  to  seek  Liberty  or  Death, 

Why  then  is  there  not  some  step  to  be  taken  to  ward  ofFthe  dread 
ful  catastrophe  ? 

Fellow  countrymen,  will  you  stand  and  see  your  aged  parents, 
your  loving  wives,  your  dutiful  children  butchered  by  the  mer 
ciless  hand  of  the  enthusiast,  when  you  have  it  in  your  power  to 
prevent  it  ? 

In  this  enlightened  period,  when  the  Rights  of  Man  is  the 
topick  of  political  controversy,  and  slavery  is  considered  not  only 
unnatural  but  unlawful,  why  do  you  not  step  forward  and  com- 
pleat  the  glorious  work  you  have  begun,  and  extend  the  merciful 
hand  to  the  unfortunate  Blacks  ?  Why  do  you  not  form  some 
wise  plan  to  liberate  them,  and  abolish  slavery  in  your  country  ? 

If  it  should  be  deemed  injudicious  or  impolitic  to  effect  it  at 
once,  let  it  be  done  gradually;  let  the  children  for  one  or  two 
generations  be  liberated  at  a  certain  age,  and  in  less  than  half  a 
century  will  the  plague  be  totally  rooted  out  from  amongst  you — 
then  will  you  begin  to  see  your  consequence — thousands  of  good 
citizens  will  be  added  to  your  number,  and  your  arms  will  be 
come  invincible :  Gratitude  will  induce  them  to  become  your 
friends;  for  the  PROMISE  alone  of  freedom  to  a  slave  ensures 
his  loyalty;  witness  their  conduct  in  the  second  Punic  war  which 
the  Senate  of  Rome  carried  on  against  Hannibal  ;  not  a  man 

disgraced 

#This  was  thrown  out  as  a  conjecture  of  what  possibly  might  happen,  and  the  insur 
rections  in  St.  Domingo  tend  to  prove  the  danger,  to  be  more  considerable  than  has  generally 
been  supposed,  and  sufficient  to  alarm  the  inhabitants  of  these  States. 


i8 

disgraced   himself,  but    all  with   an   intrepidity  peculiar  to    vete 
rans,  met  their  foes,  fought  and  conquered. 

Witness  also  the  valour  of  a  few  Blacks  in  South-Carolina,  who 
under  the  promise  of  freedom,  joined  the  great  and  good  Colonel 
JOHN  LAURENS  ;  and  in  a  sudden  surprised  the  British,  and  dis 
tinguished  themselves  as  heroes. 

I  remember  it  was  said,  they  were  foremost  in  the  ranks,  and 
nobly  contended  for  their  promised  reward. 

At  this  critical  juncture,  when  savage  cruelties  threatened  to  in 
vade  your  peaceful  territories,  and  murder  your  citizens,  what 
great  advantage  might  be  derived  from  giving  freedom  to  the 
Africans  at  once.  Would  they  not  all  become  your  Allies  ; 
would  they  not  turn  out  hardy  for  the  wilderness,  to  drive  the 
blood-thirsty  savage  to  his  den,  and  teach  him  it  were  better  to 
live  peceably  at  home,  than  to  come  under  the  scourge  of  such 
newly  liberated  levies. 

Americans  arouse — It  is  time  to  hear  the  cause  of  the  wretch 
ed  sons  of  Africa,  enslaved  in  your  country  ;  they  plead  not 
guilty  to  every  charge  of  crime,  and  unmeritedly  endure  the 
sufferings  you  impose  upon  them. 

Yet,  like  haughty  Despots,  or  corrupt  judges,  you  forbid  a  trial. 
Justice  however  to  yourselves  and  humanity  toward  your  fel 
low  mortals,  loudly  demand  it  of  you,  and  you  ought  not  to 
hesitate  in  obeying  their  sacred  mandates. 

A  few  years  may  be  sufficient  to  make  you  repent  of  your  un 
relenting  indifference,  and  give  a  stab  to  all  your  boasted  hon 
ours  ;  then  may  you,  pitiable  citizens,  be  taught  wisdom,  when 
it  will  be  too  late  ;  then  may  you  cry  out,  Abba  Father,  but 
mercy  will  not  be  found,  where  mercy  was  refused. 

Let  all  the  social  feelings  of  the  soul,  let  honour,  philan 
thropy,  pity,  humanity,  and  justice,  unite  to  effect  their  eman 
cipation. 

For  eternal  will  be  the  disgrace  of  keeping  them  much  longer 
in  the  iron  fetters  of  slavery,  but  immortal  the  honour  of  ac 
complishing  their  FREEDOM. 


To  the  SOCIETY. 

SUCH  were   the  sentiments,   my   friends,  that    first   induced 
you  to  form   yourselves  into  this  Society. 

For  seeing  human  nature  debased  in  the  most  vile  manner,  and 

seeing 


seeing  also  that  your  country  deeply  suffered  from  the  iniquitous 
custom  of  holding  man  in  slavery,  you  have  justly  concluded 
"that  at  this  particular  crisis,  when  Europe  and  America  appear 
to  pay  some  attention  to  this  evil,  the  united  endeavours  of  a 
few,  might  greatly  influence  the  public  opinion,  and  produce 
from  the  transient  sentiment  of  the  times,  effects,  extensive,  last 
ing  and  useful." — But  however  great  have  been  your  exertions  ; 
however  much  they  have  been  guided  by  the  precepts  of  huma 
nity  and  religion,  your  public  reward  has  been  censure  and  crit 
icism  ;  but  let  not  such  airy  weapons  damp  your  ardour  for  do 
ing  good;  your  just  reward  is  in  Heaven,  not  on  earth. 

Yours  is  the  businesss  of  mercy  and  compassion,  not  of  op 
pression.  You  forcibly  rescue  from  the  hands  of  no  man  his 
property,  but  by  your  examples  and  precepts  you  promote  the 
Abolition  of  Slavery,  and  give  relief  to  free  Negroes,  and  others 
unlawfully  held  in  bondage. 

You  have  shown  an  anxiety  to  extend  a  portion  of  that  free 
dom  to  others,  which  GOD  in  his  Providence  hath  extended 
unto  you,  and  a  release  from  that  thraldom  to  which  yourselves 
and  your  country  were  so  lately  tyrannically  doomed,  and  from 
which  you  have  been  but  recently  delivered.  You  have  evinced 
to  the  world  your  inclination  to  remove  as  much  as  possible  the 
sorrows  of  those  who  have  lived  in  undeserved  bondage,  and 
that  your  hearts  are  expanded  with  kindness  toward  men  of  all 
colours,  conditions  and  nations  ;  and  if  you  did  not  interest 
yourselves  in  their  behalf,  how  long  might  their  situations  remain 
hard  and  distressing. 

Numbers  might  passively  remain  for  life  in  abject  slavery  from 
an  ignorance  of  the  mode  of  acquiring  their  emancipation,  not 
withstanding  they  may  be  justly  entitled  to  their  freedom  by  birth 
and  by  the  law. 

If  the  hand  of  prosecution  is  now  raised  against  you,  for  re 
lieving  your  fellow  mortals  from  the  distresses  of  unlawful  slavery, 
and  restoring  them  to  liberty,  it  is  to  be  hoped  it  will  not  be  of 
long  duration  ;  the  principles  of  your  institutions  will  be  daily 
made  more  known,  and  others  will  begin  to  think  as  you  do; 
they  will  find  upon  reflection,  that  they  have  no  just  power  or 
authority  to  hold  men  in  slavery,  and  seeing  that  your  actions 
are  charitable  and  disinterested,  will  cordially  inlist  under  your 
banners,  and  aid  your  benevolent  exertions. 

Already  have  you  reason  to  suppose,  that  your  good  examples 
have  been  influencial ;  you  humbly  began  with  a  few,  and  you 
now  see  your  numbers  hourly  encreasing. 


2O 


It  may  be  the  effusions  of  a  youthful  fancy,  solicitous  of  ag 
grandizing  your  merit,  but  I  fear  not  to  say,  that  the  operations 
of  similar  institutions  will  date  one  of  the  most  splendid  aeras  of 
American  greatness. 

Go  on  then,  my  friends,  pursue  the  dictates  of  an  unsullied 
conscience,  and  cease  not  until  you  have  finished  your  work- 
but  let  prudence  guide  you  in  all  your  undertakings,  and  let 
not  an  enthusiastic  heat  predominate  over  reason.  Your  cause 
is  a  just  one,  consistent  with  law  and  equity,  and  must  finally  be 
advocated  by  all  men  of  Humanity  and  Religion, 


"  For,  '//s  Liberty  alone  which  gives  the  flower 
"  of  fleeting  life  its  lustre  and  perfume, 
*'  j4nd  we  are  tueeds  'without  it." 

TASK, 

FINIS. 


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